New strategy for high-risk roads

By Megan Hartogh

As of midnight last night, safety measures on some of Cape Town’s high-risk roads were stepped up. This is being done as the number of stone throwing incidents on the city’s roads has been on the increase in recent weeks. The roads that have been identified as high-risk, are the N1, Vanguard Drive, Voortrekke Road, Lansdowne Road, Stellenbosch Arterial, Baden Powell Drive and the N2. According to the Western Cape MEC for Community Safety, Leonard Ramatlakane, the new safety strategy will include:
· The assistance of Bambanani volunteers to patrol the highways.
· Ensuring that lights are added to dangerous, dark bridges.
· The deployment of 92 police officers patrolling dangerous roads 24 hours a day.
· The number of patrol vehicles increasing from seven to 46.
· Defective surveillance cameras being repaired and determining whether or not new cameras need to be placed along routes, including the N2.
The improvements come after the death of 48-year-old Nolan Daniels, who died on Sunday after stones were thrown at his car while he was driving on the R300 on Friday, June 23rd. Ramatlakane says that “Urgent intervention was needed to prevent further loss of life”.