Arthur Howe, Fish Hoek
On Monday July 22, another bad accident involving three vehicles happened at the notorious 16th Avenue island and pedestrian traffic lights.
Quoting people at the scene, as many as 13 people were badly hurt when an alleged unlicensed taxi ploughed into the back of a bakkie carrying eight or more people in the back, which, in turn, hit another vehicle.
The road was closed for more than two hours while the injured were being attended to and the damaged vehicles removed.
If this was not a regular occurrence, one could put it down to bad driving/weather/visibility etc, but as a resident living only a few hundred metres away, alas, this is becoming the norm.
I can personally count five accidents in the last three months.
There are several factors that contribute to these accidents:
Firstly, the road is narrowed by the creation of a concrete Island housing the centre traffic light
Secondly, it is located on a bend in the road that becomes much sharper than you would expect due to the island location.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Kommetjie Road has become a race track, particularly in the early morning and evening taxi hours with these drivers racing at dangerous speeds to get back to Masiphumelele to cram in another load in order to meet their targets.
After 6pm, the road becomes a mini Killarney Race Track with not a cop and camera deterrent in sight.
People have been killed and badly injured in these accidents, and there has been no action to remedy the situation from the City of Cape Town or the traffic department.
I have suggested “traffic calming measures” to various people including our local councillor who advised me that no speed bumps can be installed as this is a strategic road for emergency and other services.
Chatting to a few people at the accident scene, we recalled how in the past, one didn’t dare to travel this road at anything other than the speed limit for fear that Bob Short, Tank Mouton or, even worse, Mr Saaiman, would be patrolling somewhere along the road at any time of night ready to hit you with fines that could cripple your personal economy.
I propose the following solutions:
• Speed cameras monitoring between 17th and 4th Avenues.
• Speed cameras at the intersection of 17th Avenue and Kommetjie Road that actually work.
• Speed traps along Kommetjie Road during these dangerous times and not those that catch the pensioners doing 67km/h on their way to the mall at 10am in the morning or 3.30pm in the afternoon.
• Regular licence checks for taxi drivers at the Masi rank.
• Remove the concrete island at 16th Avenue and replace it with permanently flashing warning lights 100 metres before the traffic lights in both directions.
I have no doubt that before this is published, there will be at least one more accident on Kommetjie Road – let us hope that it is not another fatality.
• Mayoral committee member for urban mobility Rob Quintas responds:
The City’s urban mobility directorate will draw official crash statistics and investigate the situation relating to the island at 16th Avenue, also noting the requests for warning signage, and/or other possible warning and visibility interventions related thereto.
The median island currently serves to protect opposing traffic waiting to turn right into 16th Avenue via the dedicated lane provided for that purpose. The City’s investigation will focus on improving the warning signage, advance delineation of road curvature and visibility of the island, rather than the removal of the island which was originally introduced as a safety measure.
Please note that Kommetjie Road is classified as a mobility route, intended to carry higher volumes of traffic beyond the immediate area. In terms of the City’s traffic calming policy, higher order mobility routes do not qualify for physical traffic calming measures as the route is intended to facilitate the free flow of traffic. The appropriate means of speed control would be speed enforcement.
• The City’s spokesperson for Traffic Services Maxine Bezuidenhout responds:
The City’s Traffic Service confirms that the transport enforcement unit issued 414 fines and impounded 15 taxis for the period from Saturday May 4 to Monday July 15 in the Kommetjie area.
Due to operational requirements, traffic officers cannot be static at a specific address as they need to attend to other traffic challenges across the metropole.
