A neighbourhood watch member’s call for a speed hump outside a school appears to be falling on deaf ears.

Richard Small, a member of Portland Neighbourhood Watch who helps out at Portland Primary School, says he has been battling for years to get anyone to pay attention to his pleas for traffic calming in Westpoort Drive.

Small and several of his fellow neighbourhood watch assist at the pedestrian crossing outside the school and he says several motorists ignore the traffic lights, the pedestrian crossing and sometimes even the raised booms of the scholar patrol, and speed over the crossing — even if learners are in the road at the time.

A tragedy waiting to happen

Small has many photographs and videos of motorists speeding over the crossing which he has sent to the City along with his pleas for a speed hump, but he has been repeatedly met with an unfavourable response.

“I’m afraid they will only listen once a child has died there,” Small said.

TygerBurger has visited the crossing with Small and photographed some of the narrow escapes.

“There are some taxi drivers who respect the rules but about 60% of them don’t stop,” Small said.

City’s response

In an earlier article, TygerBurger asked the City if a speed hump could be built in that space.

Rob Quintas, the City’s Mayco member for urban mobility, said at the time: “Small is welcome to submit a request for a speed hump or raised pedestrian crossing outside Portland Primary School by contacting the City’s Transport Information Centre at 0800 65 64 63 or e-mailing Transport.Info@capetown.gov.za. The request will then be logged and considered by the City’s transport planning and network management department within the relevant provisions of the City’s Traffic Calming Policy. A tracking number will be provided. Due to the volume of requests, the turnaround time for the investigation and response can be between 90 and 120 days.”

Small says he has made the request but gets conflicting feedback from the City, including that the road is under provincial jurisdiction.

TygerBurger e-mailed the City on the subject again last week.

This time, Quintas said: “Portland Primary fronts onto Wespoort Drive which is classified as a minor arterial, which is intended to provide a mobility function. In terms of the City of Cape Town Traffic Calming Policy, mobility routes of this nature would not qualify for raised traffic calming measures. It should furthermore be noted that the CCT has already installed a fully signalised pedestrian crossing at this location, to facilitate safe crossing by vulnerable road users.”

Kevin Jacobs, spokesperson for the traffic service, said: “The City’s Traffic Service has taken note of the complaint and will initiate speed enforcement in the area.”