It’s bad planning, not trucks

RICHARD Bowes’s letter refers. It is regrettable that the only two “official” responses – JP Smith being the other – jump to blame shifting.

Mr Smith blames the national government for a tragedy that repeated itself on his watch. I dare say that if a VIP was killed the first time, the on-ramp from the M5 to the N1 would have been structurally altered to force trucks to slow down.

Engineers can do this. The concrete barrier we have in the centre of the N2 is there because a prominent leader of the Progressive Federal Party was killed in Mowbray in a head-on collision before the construction of the barrier.

There was no admission of guilt from any road engineer.

Families have now lost loved ones twice, and the best Mr Bowes can do is blame the speed the truck was going at. Sir, we need you to make it very difficult for the thing to go wrong.

While I am at it – when we turn right at a dual road intersection, anywhere in the city, we are confronted by a round traffic sign on the middle island, that is exactly the height of the sitting driver in his car. The sign has the effect of obscuring oncoming traffic very well, and I have heard the expression “I never saw that car”.

Numerous accidents could be prevented if the traffic signs are replaced by something more driver friendly.

A third complaint I have against road engineers… Can we replace all major traffic light intersections with traffic circles in Mitchells Plain, please? All the deaths at these intersections could have been prevented, just by road engineers thinking outside the box.

Can we do this, as a matter of urgency, and not wait until a VIP is killed in AZ Berman Drive or Spine Road.

I encourage Mr Bowes to revisit the M5 and Paarden Eiland, on- and off-ramps, and tweak the system to force trucks to slow down and thereby prevent more deaths of innocent drivers.

Mr Smith must be encouraged to adopt the motto “The buck stops here”.