Humping divides drivers

The varying speeds of large and small vehicles, coupled with ‘excessive’ speed humps is a major debating point in Meerensee

The erection of speed calming measures at one of the City’s most dangerous intersections has pleased nearby neighbours - but has angered the vast majority of residents, who are clamouring for their removal. The rumble strips and speed humps were installed by the municipality during the past week at the high speed intersection of Angler’s Rod and the John Ross Parkway. A speed limit of 20kph has been recommended for vehicles taking on the humps. The controversial construction has been taken up by organised business, with the Afrikaansehandelsinstituut, ZCCI and uThungulu Strategic Development Committee vigorously opposed to the humps. Their phone lines and emails have been inundated with angry complainants arguing that the measures are ‘overkill’.
They say that:
• Light vehicle owners who slow down risk being smashed into by heavy vehicles that can pass over the humps without having to reduce speed
• The people living in this area will have to learn to live with the noise that will be created
• Sudden braking will lead to accidents
• Vehicles towing trailers and caravans would be especially at risk
• Front-wheel drive vehicles, especially small ones, are potentially in danger of suffering damage
• Rather than making the intersection safer, it will cause more accidents
• Incorrect engineering specifications make the humps too steep and dangerous
• The rumble strips alone were enough to calm the traffic
•Enforcement of legislation is a better option than speed humps

Two sides
Many examples are being circulated, such as a person who witnessed how a bus, coming at speed almost ran over a VW Polo which had to slow down to about about 30km/h. ‘We are going to see somebody hurt here very soon, and the sad thing would be that it would be the careful law-abiding citizen who will be the one affected,’ said one. ‘They clearly didn’t think what they were doing when installing this. This morning quite a few cars were very close to bumping into each other – the last strips are really bad and some people almost stop at them, to prevent damage to their cars or other possible problems,’ said another. However, not everyone agrees.
‘This is great,’ said one resident of Bream Hill, the first road leading off Angler’s Rod. ‘At last we can get onto the main road because normally traffic is flying fast.’ Others congratulated the municipality and expressed certainty that lives would be saved and the number of accidents reduced.