Trematon Drive residents want traffic calming measures
LOCALS living in Trematon Drive say it is high time the city implemented traffic calming measures as the rate of accidents has escalated in recent months.
Tony Chaperson, a resident of Morningside Ridge, said an accident on the road last week was reason enough for the city to allocate a budget for traffic calming measures.
He said city officials informed them the street was classified as a high order and class 3 road, which made it difficult for any work to be implemented.
Residents are not accepting this as they believe “road classification will be the least of the city’s worries if the carnage on roads piles up”.
Chaperson said residents had been trying to have speed measures implemented for many years.
“The municipality does not seem to care. We have e-mailed countless pictures of different accidents on the road and (have set out) the reasons why there need to be traffic calming measures.
“We understand the city is bound by regulations, but it does not stop them from finding alternative solutions to (improve) the situation,” said Chaperson.
His wife, Deidre, said the city needed to catch a wake up before more lives were lost in accidents.
“We encourage city officials to visit the road to see for themselves what takes place. Regular monitoring and campaigns can assist in the reduction of speeding,” she said.
Ward 27 councillor, Martin Meyer, said he was working with Ward 18 councillor Bruce Sutcliffe to find an alternative speed policy.
He said the current policy was not sensitive to the needs of residents.
“I am currently working to get traffic calming in 13 of my wards because of the safety concerns, although it has been hard because we always get the same answers from the city.
“The areas of concern are from Trematon Drive to Peter Mokaba Road,” said Meyer.
City Watch has reported on residents’ pleas for traffic calming measures on numerous occasions this year.
In September, members of a retirement home in Burman Drive, Morningside wanted the city to install speed humps on the road for their safety.
They said speeding motorists disregarded the “Elderly People” road sign.
Head of communications for the eThekwini municipality, Tozi Mthethwa said at the time, that speed humps were
He added: “I am deeply offended because we do not complain about our neighbour’s noise pollution when we sleep at night.”
He did not want to comment on the matter further.
The head of communications for eThekwini Municipality, Tozi Mthethwa, said the city was aware of the state of the church.
She said the city had served the ministers of the church with notices for Dilapidation/ Structural Danger.
“The municipality has been informed that the ministers were out of the country at the time of the serving of notices. The matter is still being looked into by the relevant unit,” she said. evaluated and installed in terms of a council-approved process that looked at various factors including environment and the number of speedrelated accidents, depending on the respective road class.
She said traffic circles were evaluated and warranted on traffic considerations and the ability for them to handle the traffic.
“The number of speed humps installed a year is determined by the budget and the staff resources to undertake the required evaluations and procurement for implementation.
“In some instances where speed humps cannot be installed, additional road markings and signage is put up as this might help reduce (the number of) accidents. Road users need to respect the rules of the road and take responsibility to not speed or make speeding an unacceptable behaviour,” she said.
A set of speed humps can cost up to R400 000, depending on the number required, with a minimum cost of about R130 000. The cost of a traffic circle ranges from R400 000 to several million rand, depending on its size and other factors.
The city was not able to provide a comment this week. We will follow up on the matter next week.