Business owners get the hump
the intersection, and there have been major accidents in the past due to this.
“This is a serious issue that requires urgent intervention. The city officials need to review their speed hump policy or work around it to make certain that residents’ concerns are dealt with,” said Ball.
Businessman Darrel Williams said cars often sped through at 100km/h.
He said it was “disappointing to know that motorists did not show a slight interest towards road safety”.
“City officials should visit the site to see for themselves what happens. People have been hurt through serious accidents, yet the city does not seem to care.
For some reason, these motorists do not know how to deal with four-way stop streets,” said Williams.
A customer at a café near the infamous intersection, Brad Baillache, said he watched every day how drivers failed to stop and often were oblivious to pedestrians crossing the road.
Car guard London Rudahindwa, who has been working on the road for the past eight years, said the motorists “drive like crazy and are absentminded”.
On observation, the City Watch team can confirm that most of the motorists drove past the stop street without looking for oncoming traffic.
One motorist almost ran down a pedestrian and made it seem like it was that person’s fault.
All the relevant parties suggested the municipality lay speed humps.
Head of communications for the eThekwini municipality, Tozi Mthethwa, said they did not support speed humps at stop streets as “road traffic contraventions such as speeding at stop streets were easily enforceable”.
She said the municipality was aware of the issue and on investigation found that there had been only two accidents over the past five years.
“The city has called for the accident records to evaluate the situation. The city prioritises the zones, streets and intersections that have the worst accident record to minimise further road accidents.
“In some instances where speed humps cannot be installed additional road markings and signage is put up as this might help mitigate accidents. However, it is essential that road users respect the rules of the roads,” said Mthethwa.