Meerensee residents upset over reckless motorists
Complaints about motorists and especially taxi operators violating the traffic rules have been brought to the uMhlathuze Municipality, who are currently attending to the matter
AS roadworks continue in Meerensee, residents are calling for traffic offenders who speed in the residential streets, cut corners, drive in the oncoming traffic lane and are not complying with stop streets, to be dealt with.
Complaints about motorists and especially taxi operators violating the traffic rules have been brought to the uMhlathuze Municipality, who are currently attending to the matter.
Roadworks have seen drivers create their own routes through the suburb to avoid the traffic and speed on the suburb’s streets.
A resident living near the corner of Knorhaanbaai and Oesterbank, which is one of the routes used by commuters as an avenue to cut traffic to the main road, said some road users are being so audacious they skip the kilometre-long queue in Knorhaanbaai by driving into oncoming traffic, forcing other vehicles off the road.
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‘Taxis also just stop in the middle of the street and park where they want to, again claiming the road for themselves and having complete disregard for the rules of the road and for the rest of the users of the road.
‘The taxis and buses do not even use this bus rank facility as I have witnessed on multiple occasions the busses just stop in the left lane of Angler’s Rod to load and offload passengers.
‘There have been multiple accidents as well on Angler’s Rod and a pedestrian was also killed on that road.
‘The walkways and road planning have failed the users and should seriously be reviewed and corrected before more people get killed.
‘Measurements I ask to consider: increase the speed humps in Knorhaanbaai as I fear to even drive out of my driveway.
‘Our children are not safe and cannot ride their bikes anymore due to reckless and poor driving habits.
‘Robots and more speed humps should be installed but ultimately a double lane should be planned for the near future to compensate for the extreme traffic volume increase, thereby eliminating drivers from using residential streets as their race course,’ he said.
Solution
The city has confirmed the matter is known to council, and is being treated as a matter of urgency as the process to resolve it is in motion.
‘Our Chief Traffic Officer received the complaint on the morning of 17 February 2020 and the process of effecting a solution began to unfold.
‘Matters of traffic such as these call for planning and allocation of resources (budget and personnel) and all actions should be guided by legislation.
‘Unfortunately, the details of the planning including the dates of executing the solution, which includes apprehending traffic law violators and so forth, cannot be shared with the general public, as such will potentially forewarn offenders and negatively impact on the effectiveness of the operation,’ said City Chief Marketing Officer, Percy Thusini.
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