Call to put brakes on speedsters
Parents are pulling the brakes on speedsters racing in the area outside Sentinel Primary School in Hangberg.
The City of Cape Town confirmed that a number of complaints were received about the “reckless and dangerous driving” at the intersection of Atlantic Skipper and Karbonkel roads in Hangberg.
Elaine Manual, who has two grandchildren whom she drops off and collects outside the school daily, said she feared for the worse.
“Something terrible is going to happen here if nothing is done about this matter, because some of the kids just run out of the school and over the road and some of these drivers really don’t stop and some even swerve around these kids,” she said.
Ms Manual said she had passed on complaints to the ward councillor and City’s Traffic Services previously.
“This road gets really busy as it’s the main exit out of Hangberg. So there are times cars are rushing up and down, taxis are driving here and it’s a constant danger for these kids,” she added.
Meter taxi driver, Stanley Mbongwe from Imizamo Yethu, who drops his daughter in the morning, believes the “rush and panic” at the intersection is going to cause additional problems.
“You have all these cars trying to either get into Hangberg or leave Hangberg, and everything is done in a rush. I haven’t heard of any major incidents, but there were some near misses,” he said.
He encouraged the City to consider implementing a more permanent solution, in the form of a stationed traffic officer at the intersection.
“Problem is that it will be gone today because there is enforcement, but tomorrow it’s back when they see police are gone. So the message must go out to the people and they need to be careful,” he said.
“It’s near a school; nobody should be driving fast or recklessly anyway.”
On Monday March 8, the City’s Traffic Services attended to complaints and held an operation outside the school, where a more than 50 fines were issued.
These were for, among others, expired drivers licences, unlicensed vehicles, safety belt infringements, stop street infringements, and dangerous parking violations.
Ward councillor Roberto Quintas said: “I reached out to the relevant departments with traffic and am able to confirm that actions were taken in terms of enforcement and in effort to discourage drivers of reckless road usage in this vicinity.”
Mr Quintas confirmed that a number of complaints had been sent to his office regarding the traffic violations outside the school.
Michelle Yon, the Walking Bus co-ordinator in Hangberg, highlighted that the intersection has been a hot spot for a while but was fast becoming a “headache”.
“Our duty as the walking bus is make sure these kids are safe, prevent them from being robbed and also get into fights. This intersection is a worry for us and everybody, because people drive like they don’t care,” she said.
Ms Yon suggested the City consider introducing “stop and go” robots, especially to be used in the morning peak and the afternoon, when it’s home time for pupils.
“We haven’t had an incident here at this intersection just yet, but something is going to happen if nothing is being done really soon,” she said.
“This intersection has become a major headache.”
Sentinel News attempted to gain comment from the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), but they did not respond by deadline.