A road in the west of Pretoria has been fixed following a protest by informal settlers last week.
The residents of Zama Zama informal settlement protested to register their unhappiness about a child being run over by a vehicle earlier this week, said DA ward councillor Frik van Wyk.
He said the child had since been stabilised.
Van Wyk said the residents had blamed the accident on the quality of the M17, commonly known as Hornsnek Road, and motorists’ failure to adhere to traffic rules.
ALSO READ: NEWSFLASH: Police keep lid on west protest
The protesters dug up the road, burned tyres and threw stones at passing motorists early last Tuesday morning leading to a temporary closure of the road.
Van Wyk said the road has a large volume of traffic daily.
“Motorists from the north towards the mountain, drives at a tremendous speed,” he said.
“Although signs have been put up that motorists should slow down to 60 kilometres per hour, they still do not adhere to this.”
He added that truck drivers also drove at a high speed on the stretch of road.
“I visited the site after the protest and saw this for myself,” he said.
Van Wyk said the Gauteng roads and transport department laid more rumble strips on the road last Wednesday.
“Even though I believe the rumble strips would help, I still think that something more drastic should be done,” he said.
“The entrance into the informal settlement would have to change – there needs to be only one entrance instead of two.”
“Two creates a higher risk.”
Van Wyk said he would discuss further solutions with the provincial team.
“There are also certain regulations that we need to take into consideration when it comes to a main road,” he said.
“We cannot, for example, put up a speed hump.”
The department said routine maintenance of the road would continue.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: West road opened following protest
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