Faded signs road hazard
[caption id="attachment_142060" align="aligncenter" width="500"] BARELY LEGIBLE: The stop sign at the corner of Bowker Road and Mount Road. Picture: IVOR MARKMAN[/caption]
Drivers at loss as markings disappear
FADED road markings and traffic signs in Port Elizabeth are a growing danger, with many across the city needing a fresh coat of paint.
In areas such as Motherwell, Summerstrand, Mount Pleasant and KwaDwesi, road markings are often barely visible, while in Walmer, Lovemore Heights, Kabega Park and Missionvale markings have completely disappeared in places.
Gardmed Ambulance managing director Dave Gardner said the fading signs were a headache for emergency service workers. “We are greatly affected by this when responding to an emergency, ” he said.
“Often when we get to an accident scene people say there were no road markings. Something needs to be done. In many areas these road markings have totally disappeared.”
Taxi drivers are often accused of jumping stop streets but Mafa Zulu blamed the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. He said on some of the routes he drove there were no road markings and he had to do what he thought was the right thing.
“Stop signs have faded across the city, so we only yield,” he said. “Also, you will find taxis overtaking on barrier lines because the markings are no longer there.”
Zulu said the worst area for him was on Daku Road in Kwazakhele. Two Way Driving School owner Cornelius Boshoff said: “It makes it difficult for us to teach people about road markings when they are barely there.
The faded stop signs are a real problem because people are now using them as yield signs.” Theo Simpson, 68, of Kabega Park, said only half the motorists at the three-way stop on the corner of Avondale Road and Northumberland Road came to a halt at the stop sign.
“We have accidents [here] all the time. I don’t even remember when the road markings were last painted,” he said. Monde Mdingi, 56, of Motherwell, said he had never seen the municipality paint road markings or signs in Mgwalane Street.
Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said: “Road marking is seen as a high priority as it is linked to traffic management, road safety and legal liability to [the municipality].”
He said the municipality had five teams to repaint road markings. Mniki said the municipality had already spent 60% of its R1.2-million 2015-2016 budget for the repainting of road markings and signs in the city.
“The focus is on main roads as a top priority,” he said.
