Don’t only blame the motorists

Madam – In the Advertiser of 13th June, a writer vents his disdain with the drivers of Newcastle, but the problem does not lie only with the motorists, but rests with ALL road users, and with the municipal authorities from the top down.

Numerous letters have been written to this publication regarding the situation in Newcastle, and, my last letter on this subject was even forwarded to the mayor for his comment, but for some reason or other, he did not respond. A footnote at the end of the letter said that at the time, no response had been received.

In the letter of the 13th of June, the writer writes about pedestrians having been killed or run over by motorists, and it seems motorists are to blame, and the pedestrians do nothing wrong.

I use the roads in Newcastle on a daily basis, and my conclusion is that, in Newcastle, the responsible driver has to think for himself, the motorist behind him, the motorist in front of him, and for a few hundred pedestrians as well, as it seems the traffic lights do not mean anything, especially to our pedestrians.

It is just a miracle that we do not have many more pedestrians run over on a daily basis, and, although the Constitution declares that “all are equal before the Law”, this is not so in Newcastle. If you, as a motorist, do something wrong, the chances are good that sometime or other, you will end up in court to answer for your wrongdoing. Not so with our pedestrians. You can “jaywalk”, ignore every traffic light and every rule in the traffic regulations, apparently with the blessing of the powers that be, because in spite of numerous letters about this situation, nothing is done to rectify matters.

I remember, on one occasion, I sent an SMS to the mayor line, and, in reply, I remember the mayor stated that it was wrong for pedestrians to “jaywalk” and to ignore traffic lights. He said that he was sure that “protection services” were doing something to rectify matters.

This was about two or three years ago, and still nothing has been done. In fact, when I spoke to a “high ranking” official in Protection Services, he jokingly remarked that it was the right of pedestrians to do what they are doing. Today, it seems to me that this was, actually, no joke.

During the week, I travelled on Allen Street in the vicinity of a very well known school at about the time the school was “coming out”. The pupils, on their way home, also ignored the traffic lights, and just kept walking as if the town belonged to them. Traffic just had to wait.

It seems that this lawlessness starts at school. I was taught to obey rules and regulations, and the “old people” always had a saying that big crimes started with the small ones, which go unpunished. It seems to me that we in South Africa, and specifically, in Newcastle, have passed beyond the point where crime is going to stop or be reversed.

We always hear from the powers that be how this government does everything better than the previous one. Can we have proof on this issue?

We can start having schools put wardens at traffic lights near schools to see that pupils obey traffic rules, instead of only having them near schools to see that children cross streets safely, and, instead of having traffic officers targeting only motorists at times, have them out in full force sometimes, educating pedestrians to obey road rules, and after some time of educating, start taking serious action.

I would like to see some perpetrators in our courts.

A system that works well in overseas countries, is to issue spot fines, and if they cannot pay immediately, detain them until the next day, and take them to court. There jaywalking and ignoring traffic lights are virtually not seen.

They can start with the jaywalkers in Kirkland and Murchison streets.

Lourens