A four-vehicle crash in Roberts Road, Woodstock, has prompted residents to again call for speed bumps in the road.
Speeding has long been a problem in the road, according to Monita Warley, who has lived in the road for 26 years.
“We have been fighting for speed bumps, though we were previously told in 2020 by the City that we did not have enough traffic,” she said.
Residents feel the crash on Friday night June 10, in which, according to resident Youssef Kanouni, a Mercedes Benz ploughed into three parked vehicles – a Toyota bakkie, a Citroen hatchback and Nissan SUV – should change the City’s stance.
The City’s Traffic Service spokesman, Kevin Jacobs, said no one was injured, but a driver was arrested for being under the influence of alcohol.
The Woodstock police did not respond to our questions by deadline.
Ms Warley said the road was a hazard for its elderly residents, children couldn’t play in the road, and her dog was knocked down and killed by a car about five years ago.
Roberts Road is between the busy Roodebloem Road and is close to Mountain Road, which has speed bumps near the Mountain Road Primary School. It is also adjacent to Victoria Road, Woodstock, which is the main road in the area. It is about 320 metres long and eight metres wide. It has a downward slope from the edge of Salisbury Street, running towards Victoria Road.
Jacque Nel, who has lived in the road for nine years, said that in 2018, residents had collected more than 100 signatures to apply for traffic calming, but the City had not seen sufficient reason for the measures. “Their response was that traffic was coming from both sides, which should be a deterrent,” he said.
Maegan Martin said many of the residents had to park in the road and she found it hard getting her two young children in and out of their car seats next to oncoming traffic.
Woodstock resident Youssef Kanouni said he had fought for speed bumps in the road during his time as the Woodstock Community Police Forum chairman.
“The safety of the community is important and we can’t allow this matter to die down,” he said.
Ms Warley, along with residents, will be applying for speed bumps again.
Mayoral committee member for urban mobility Rob Quintas said previous applications had been turned down as the road was in a residential area with a pavement on both sides for pedestrians.
A study of traffic and pedestrian volumes, he said, had found “the traffic volumes would be medium to high during peak periods and pedestrian activity was considered to be relatively low to medium”.
He added, however, that crash history could “an indication of a problem that cannot be easily determined from a site inspection”.
