Speed humps driving PSJ public up the wall
‘Illegal’ calming measures having opposite effect say business operators
Scores of apparently illegal and mostly unmarked speed humps, some up to almost halfa-metre high, and only a metre wide are driving tourism operators in the Port St Johns’ area into a rage.
Vehicles are being severely battered by the humps on the R61 road, from Magusheni to the coastal village, said Pat Goss, chairman of Umngazi River Bungalows.
He said the humps were so big and steep it was like hitting a concrete block.
Pictures supplied show a taxi had stopped a metre from a hump with its rear wheel off and lying on the ground.
Some of the humps are in the form of three sharp smaller humps.
“The humps are illegal, have no warning signs, or painted stripes to indicate them,” said Goss. “One 60-kilometre section of road has 85 humps.”
Naun Chingura, Eastern Cape provincial district roads engineer for both O R Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts, said that his department would be inspecting the road and would make whatever alterations were necessary. He could not confirm which contractor was responsible for the section between Magusheni, near Lusikisiki, and Port St Johns, or which sub-contractor had built the humps, and failed to paint zebra crossing markings on them or erect signs warning motorists of them.
Goss said there was talk that a contractor had been paid per hump.
“No one objects to properly designed, legal speed humps with zebra crossings, but the provincial authorities appear to be lawless and do what they like, with contractors using illegal moulds. In many cases tar was simply piled on the road.”
Umngazi is the largest tourism-related employer in the Port St Johns area, with 246 staff. “If the illegal speed humps are not removed it impacts drastically on tourism, cascading down to employment, and we are already feeling the impact,” Goss said.
Kathryn Costello, who owns the landmark Outspan Inn in Port St Johns, said the population of the area was 55,000, “of which 53,000 people were unemployed. The bottom line is that the humps are illegal.
“Some inexperienced, non-road building entity, perhaps with connections to someone in authority, got the contract to do the job.
“As the road falls under different [area] authorities, no-one is prepared to take responsibility, or fix or remove the humps.”
She said communities living close to the road had wanted the humps after several pedestrians were hurt or killed by speeding vehicles.
“Unfortunately the jobs were not done to legal specifications.”
Goss said drivers in the Rally Round Africa series which started in Tanganyika and used his resort for a two-day pit stop on route to Cape Town, had complained.
They said the road was extremely dangerous and frustrating.
Speed restrictions were confusing, changing from 60km to 80, then 100, and back to 60km, all within a few kilometres.
If the illegal speed humps are not removed it impacts on tourism, cascading down to employment, and we are feeling the impact