In just one week, two serious motor vehicle accidents, in which one life was lost, occurred on Bottelary Road, once again highlighting the danger zone between Brackenfell Boulevard and Botfontein roads.
This stretch of road – a hight accident zone – is known for speeding and reckless driving.
In the most recent incident on 2 May, multiple injuries were recored in a two-vehicle collision just after 17:00 opposite the Kuils River Golf Course.
The injured people were thrown out of a rolling bakkie.
The previous week, on 27 April, a young man in his early twenties died in a motorcycle crash.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, at about 18:00, he had already succumbed to his injuries.
The road is notorious for speeding where numerous motorists exceed the speed limit between 70 and 100 km/h, forcing others to give way onto the emergency lane used by cyclists as a popular exercise route.
It is reported that vehicles do not keep the legal following distance also leaving no space for emergency breaking.
According to paramedic Kobus Kotze from Titanium Ambulance services, it is common for motorists under the influence of alcohol to take back roads such as Bottelary Road to avoid road blocks on the N1.
“For starters they don’t know the road, and being under the influence, that is when accidents happen,” Kotze says.
Road manners
Member of the safety and security portfolio at the City of Cape Town Rhynard Bresler says the road has seen several cyclists knocked over and even killed over the years. The speed limit changes from 70 km/h before the golf course to 100 km/h and then reduces again to 80 km/h as it bends through the Bottelary hills,” he says.
The absence of street lights on long stretches of the road he says also plays a role.
“It used to be a farm road, but as development increased so did the traffic volume. It has since become a major taxi route too, where motorists drive just as reckless as taxis,” he says.
“During peak times the road is very busy in both directions causing people to take chances at intersections.”
Bresler says all motorists have to be more aware and follow the rules of the road.
“Traffic law enforcement alone is not the solution. Road users must give way to better road manners. Major threats to road safety is the disregard for the rules of the road,” he says.
