Avid cyclist and runner, Riaan Stopforth (42), had a close shave with a truck on Rethman Drive, Umtentweni, on Tuesday this week.
Stopforth from Oslo Beach, who was on a training exercise, was worried he would get clipped by a truck while cycling along Rethman Drive and had no choice but to ride into a thorny bougainvillea.
“I couldn’t swerve to miss the bougainvillea that was creeping into the road on Rethman Drive as a truck was passing. There is no place for runners, cyclists or walkers on Rethman Drive,” said Stopforth.
The nasty incident left the athlete scratched and bruised.
This was on the same day the Tweni Tidy Town team began slashing the long overgrown verges which have forced road users to walk or ride in the road.
“Thanks to the Tidy Town team for making a difference. The overgrown verges between Tweni and Hibberdene are so bad that we have to cycle a metre into the road,” he said.
“I have notified the municipality via numerous emails about this stretch being a safety hazard and how the overgrown verges have caused the drainage to be blocked (which has an effect on the flooding incidents we had recently), but it seems like nothing was done about it,” he said.
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