In December the Sun reported on a group of business owners and concerned citizens, headed by Bretjohn Palmer, who are calling for measures to be taken along the portion of road which stretches from the CBD river bridge through to the stop street at the end of Main Road in Doonside.
Over the years there have been a number of accidents, often fatal, on this stretch of road. Recently a young man lost his life outside the Sun’s offices in Doonside when the vehicle he was travelling in lost control and overturned while allegedly racing another vehicle. On Friday, 20 December another vehicle smashed into a wall in Doonside. In early January a bakkie ploughed through the railing of the Toti River bridge after failing to negotiate a steep corner in the Toti CBD.
“All these incidents are a result of vehicles exceeding the speed limit,” said Bretjohn. “The business owners along Rockview and Main Road recount stories of horrific accidents that have occurred along this stretch of road over the years.”
Other business owners behind the project which aims to slow traffic on this stretch of road include Derek Chard of One Up Liquors, Cindy Crawford of Plum Perfect, John Parker of John Parker Auto Sales, Johan Le Roux of Rockview Service Station, Ian Brown of The Décor Store, Bretjohn Palmer of Brett John and Palmer, Miles Kendrick of Pearl Place Body Corporate and Peter Clayton of Go Bananas.
“Ward 97 councillor, Andre Beegte is supportive of the project, as is the community police forum,” said Bretjohn.
“The Amanzimtoti Civic Association, which is currently being revived, is also supportive of the initiative, and will probably take responsibility for driving it going forward. Residents have also asked for the initiative to be stretched further southwards, to include Kingsway in Warner Beach and northwards towards Athlone Park. We are, however limiting it to this stretch of the road initially, until we are more certain of how receptive eThekwini Municipality will be towards the project.”
The initiative has been named the ‘RocKingMain Road Challenge’ and the email address for correspondence is rockingmainroad@gmail.com.
