Toil and trouble for motorists in Camden Avenue

“What are they even doing in the residential area? I mean, there are traffic officers who live near here, who drive past these trucks every day. Nothing is being done. The municipality ignores our pleas, and the traffic department couldn’t be bothered.” These are the words of a frustrated resident in De Bruin Park, where several self-titled businessmen park their heavy vehicles at night, lining the streets and obstructing the traffic flow. During the early morning rush hour traffic, these lumbering vehicles have been reported driving carelessly, ignoring stop siggns and traffic lights, making u-turns in front of oncoming traffic, and being a general nuisance to the residents in the area. “I can’t see if there are oncoming traffic when I exit my yard, because my view is blocked by a heavy vehicle which is parked on the sidewalk. It’s very dangerous, and nothing is being done about it.”

Camden Avenue is known for its motorists who travel at unacceptably high speed, and often disregard the rules of the road. These dangerous drivers, coupled with the heavy vehicles that have no business being in a residential area, is a recipe for disaster. Despite the issue being raised with Msukaligwa Local Municipality (MLM) on several occasions, the issue persists, and has, in fact, worsened. Heavy vehicles, which transport coal, large loads and often livestock, can be spotted in Camden Avenue on a daily basis. These heavy vehicles have on several occasions been deemed as a danger to road users and pedestrians, especially college students and children whose parents reside in the Autumn Ridge security village. Heavy vehicle drivers have, on numerous occasions, been spotted double parking on the sidewalks to offload passengers, damaging curbs and street signs by misjudging turns, driving at excessively high or low speeds, in both cases frustrating motorists to a large extent.

This issue is, however, not confined to De Bruin Park, as there are several wards in Ermelo East where heavy vehicles are parked in the road at night, and often detach their trailers, leaving it on the roadside as an accident waiting to happen. The drivers of these heavy vehicles are supposedly liable to a fine of R1500, and traffic officials do an excellent job at clamping down on a large number of heavy vehicles in the CBD. Alas, the lament of the residential wards seem to be the least of MLM’s worries.