Now that we’ve had a proper preview of the coming winter, I think the time is right to address two issues that’ve been bugging me for a long time.
The least important of the two is the deteriorating quality of our road markings.
It must be acknowledged that ours is a whole lot better than elsewhere in the country, particularly Johannesburg, where road markings are a rare sighting.
But ours are becoming equally bad in the winter months.
Naturally, it is especially terrible on rainy nights, when it is most needed.
In fact, if you don’t know the road you’re on well enough, it’s inevitable that you will straddle dangerously into other lanes.
I started noticing over the past few years how the rain virtually dissolves the paint, making it impossible to see the lanes clearly.
Has the paint quality gotten worse, or are contractors cutting corners by using a cheaper variety?
Whatever the answer, it’s a slippery slope that I’m sure contributes to accidents in the wintertime.
The second issue also relates to our roads and was brought into tragic focus last week, when an adolescent life was needlessly lost.
A 12-year-old school boy died after being struck by a car on Nelson Mandela Boulevard, while crossing the road to go to school in Zonnebloem.
It reminded me of a moment many years ago on the exact same spot next to the Searle Street exit, when a bunch of school girls ran across the road.
Not being as quick as her friends, one of them changed her mind and quickly doubled back to the middle island.
She was clearly stuck and rightfully very nervous. I stopped my car and ran back to help her across the road, after which I gave her a quick talking to about the dangers of even just being on a freeway.
I have since seen many kids crossing the road at that same spot, which ironically is only a few meters away from the Father Basil Van Rensburg pedestrian bridge.
In fact, the number of pedestrians walking next to and running across our freeways have increased noticeably over the last few years.
It is especially unnerving on winter mornings when they are wearing dark clothes in the dark.
While they can easily see the headlights of oncoming cars, it is practically impossible for drivers to spot them, until the very last moment.
One sudden move from either, can easily lead to tragedy.
I see this at the Main Road exit on the N2, where taxis drop their passengers on the shoulder of the Freeway, forcing them to walk on a narrow verge up the ramp.
I regularly see pedestrians bolting across the N1 and the R300.
I see others, often young kids dangerously close to the traffic on Bosmansdam Road and scooting across the N7.
It’s unsettling as it’s always unexpected and can very easily lead to an accident.
When you mix in the increasing number of beggars and vendors at traffic lights, and pedestrians standing on the centre line while waiting for a gap in the traffic, then quite frankly I’m surprised there aren’t more accidents involving pedestrians.
These days changing lanes near an intersection is a hazardous undertaking.
If you want to take a gap in the traffic, you may find there’s someone in the middle of the road waiting to cross, or hoping to sell you a pocket of naartjies.
You’ve got to keep your wits about you, because they are often not drivers themselves, so they don’t understand the problems they are causing.
These are ongoing societal issues that will take time to address, but the issue of kids being killed on freeways is completely preventable.
I don’t know the details of what happened, but I suspect that that young boy was dropped on the freeway by a taxi moments earlier, and left to cross the highway by himself.
That spot is well-known for taxis dropping passengers.
We need a combination of traffic calming measures and education by surrounding businesses, schools and traffic authorities.
While some kids get dropped off at school by their parents in the comfort of vehicles, there are hundreds of others who are forced by circumstance to travel by themselves every day.
We can argue a hundred different ways about whose responsibility it is to keep them safe.
But the fact is, we can all help.
They are just kids, on their way to forging a better future for themselves.
Getting permanently maimed, or losing their lives for doing something irresponsible, like crossing a freeway, is a disproportionate punishment for a juvenile decision.
So let’s remember that our cars are dangerous weapons, slow down and keep an eye out for them.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za