The road less traveled

Going the opposite direction to Joburg traffic, I headed up to Kwa-Dukuza(Stanger), then took the R74 to Greytown, Weenen, Colenso…eventually joining the N3 at the Ladysmith Toll Plaza. 

 

Just after passing KwaDukuza, I was met with a worrying sight.

 

Since it was at about 2pm, “school was out”.  

 

The kids were very excited to be going home, it reminded me of my school days, decades ago.

 

What disturbed me the most was, the amount of these school children who were risking their lives, by sharing this busy road with trucks, buses, mini-bus taxis and normal passenger vehicles. 

 

You have to understand that these rural roads are of age. By my assumption, they were probably built decades ago, when traffic volumes were much lower. 

 

Over the next 50km that I drove, from Glendale to Kwasizabantu, it was just scores and scores of school children bravely walking on the road , one could say “gambling” with vehicles of all sizes.

 

Yes, I grew up in the rural area where we were lucky to see a car once a week.

 

Observing these kids, it seems like a “twice a day” routine, to share a busy main road with traffic. 

 

So I asked myself, what exactly is the Provincial Department of Education doing about this? Is it the department’s responsibility? What about the transport department…or the municipalities?

 

What are the local traditional leaders saying about this? What are the principals, teachers, parents and guardians of these kids saying or doing about this?

 

Here’s my thing: 

 

Throughout the three hour drive on the R74, I DID not even see one scholar patrol on duty. I don’t know about you, but in my school days, this would normally be an adult, chosen by the school to calm and monitor traffic on a road or roads within the school vicinity.  

 

Yes on the road, there are what once were called “speed humps” to calm traffic and I’m confident that at some stage they served their purpose.

 

However almost 80% of the ones I drove over are complete ineffective. They are old and have been “flattened” by heavy vehicles. Driving over them feels like you driving over a broom stick as opposed to a speed hump as we know them in the city.

 

Also on this stretch of a rural tarred road, the yellow line marking the end of the driving lane, looked to me to be at the most, a metre away from the edge of the road…which has tall grass growing on it.

 

Basically, there’s a metre of space to walk on this road for pedestrians. Hang on! Pedestrians should NOT be walking on any main road in South Africa! Right!

 

Shouldn’t there should be a designated pedestrian walkways for heavily populated residential areas…as is in the cities?

 

Once again, I didn’t see these “walkways”, keeping in mind I was travelling at sixty kilometres per hour, if there were these walkaway, there must have been have been small , as I had to keep my eyes on the road too…trying NOT to knock these scholars over.

 

What almost caused my heart to explode is that, due to potholes and warped asphalt, vehicles of all sizes were “swerving to the left” in attempt to use the “still intact one metre of road”…crossing the yellow line.

 

Was I the only the person to notice something dangerously wrong with this? Especially when you have scores of young pedestrians on the same road? 

 

I don’t know about you, by the time I got to Greytown and headed to Ladysmith, I had answered ALL of the above questions.

 

In my opinion, none of the departments are doing enough about this.

 

These rural kids are playing “chicken” with their lives on their journey to and fro school. 

 

Every step, each child takes that uses that road, seems to me like a step closer to an early death.  

 

Have you ever witnessed what Gabriel witnessed firsthand? 

 

Who do you think is responsible for the safely of kids on the roads?

 

Share your views below, Facebook or tweet @ECRBreakfast or @GabrielSithole

 

-Gabriel Sithole