GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - After yet another serious accident at the corner of Somerset Street and Cradock Street on Thursday, 11 April, members of the community have expressed great concern about the lack of traffic calming measures in place in the town.
In the latest accident, the victim was a tourist on a motorcycle, part of a group of bikers cruising slowly along Somerset Street towards their overnight accommodation at Profcon. He was hit by a local resident, driving north on Cradock Street, and taken to Midland Hospital by ambulance.
At this dangerous intersection, one of the problems is that many vehicles park near the corner, which means that there is a limited line of sight for vehicles entering the junction from Cradock Street.
Local guesthouse owner Greg Kappers, who has lived on that corner for nearly ten years, reported that he has seen countless accidents at the intersection, with vehicles bumped so hard they were lying upside down, cars hitting one another and knocking over electricity poles, and countless bumper-bashings. The intersection is close to Laer Volkskool, and Kappers has also witnessed several accidents involving children.
There is a large speed hump outside the school, but instead of approaching it slowly, many motorists race along Somerset Street and screech to a halt as they reach the hump.
"Many motorists, especially visitors to our town, do not always realise that every intersection is not a four way stop," explained Kappers, who is prepared to get involved in any way possible to get the municipality to improve the signage and traffic control at junctions. "This is a suburb and traffic should be forced to travel more slowly in our built up areas and around our schools - it's only a matter of time before a life is lost at one of these intersections,"he said.
Congestion on a 'quiet' day outside Laer Volkskool.
When Kappers posted about the incident of the local Neighbourhood Watch community facebook page, he was inundated with responses from others, identifying other hotspots where four-way stops or other control methods are needed.
It seems that many of the West Street intersections are a nightmare, particularly for those trying to turn right into Church Street. Some folk are more sceptical about the effectiveness of four-way stop systems, mentioning that many motorists just drive through without stopping anyway- sometimes, even without slowing down.
Poor or worn road markings and stop signs hidden behind trees are another common complaint as a result of the poor roadmarkings and obscured signage. "The stop sign in Cradock Street, at the junction with Middle Street, is somewhere up in the tree, not visible until at the corner," said one frustrated resident.
Many residents are in favour of speed humps (such as the one outside Laer Volkskool) or narrower and steeper speed bumps being built as a traffic calming method, or even mini roundabouts or traffic lights.
The recent accident at the corner of Somerset Street and Cradock Street.
However Cllr Samantha Graham explained that this is not a straightforward solution that can be implemented immediately, because of financial implications. “Concerns like this need to go through the municipality's budgeting and IDP process, with which we are currently busy," said Cllr Graham. She also explained that a traffic Impact study might need to be done. "At one stage, the municipality was looking at giving Somerset Street to Sanral/Provincial Roads as part of the trucking route through town- this would then mean that those authorities would be responsible for any traffic calming measures, and not the municipality."
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