Drag racing in Gezina driving residents round the bend
“We want the police to take action, with more patrols and higher visibility in the area, especially on Sundays.”
Residents near the corner of Ben Swart Street and Steve Biko Road in Gezina have become fed up with the drag racing that takes place there every Sunday evening.
When most people use Sundays to unwind, residents in this area have to plug their ears to escape from the engine noise.
Resident Sonti Chabanga, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, said the races start at 16:00 every Sunday and sometimes continue late into the evening.
Chabanga said this has been going on since she moved into the area in 2010.
“Recently the noise from the engines has become unbearable.
“You can’t even hear your own radio or television set and it just goes on and on and you have to wait it out.”
Chabanga has previously reached out to the metro for assistance with stopping the drag races.
She suggested it installs speed humps to deter the racers, but was told this could not be done due to Steve Biko being a main road.
“We just want to see some sort of action from the metro,” she said.
“Maybe it could close off two lanes with traffic cones at night and then they can’t use the road for racing, or it could patrol the area during those times.”
Another resident of the area, Mike van der Westhuizen said the road has been used for drag racing since he could remember.
“You can’t imagine the noise we hear every Sunday evening.
“It’s been going on now for more than 20 years and I’ve seen many accidents during that time.
“There was an accident where a car struck a pole, split into two and the driver burnt to death.”
Van der Westhuizen said more people will die on this road if nothing is done.
“We want the police to take action, with more patrols and higher visibility in the area, especially on Sundays.”
Sergeant Isaac Mahamba of Tshwane metro police said he has been made aware of the situation and measures have been put in place to deal with it.
“We are deploying or having continuous operations to try and address this situation. In the past we arrested those who are breaking the law and we will continue to do so without favour or fear,” he said.
“We will assess the situation to determine if we need to deploy more members, and if there is a need we will work with other law enforcement urgencies to deal with this matter.
“We welcome opinions that are raised by community members as we all know that policing is a joint effort and we also need to listen to communities.
“We will consider any options and possibly we will implement if only viable to the city,” Mahamba concluded.
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