It had to start somewhere

The number of pedestrians on the N1 has increased steadily over the past year or so, causing close-shaves, accidents and deaths, all avoidable. Since pedestrians are not allowed to be on a freeway, I decided to take some action to do something about the problem.

I contacted the Century City Property Owners Association to see if they could not repair the hole in the fence on their side of the railway, next to Mercedes Benz. Apparently they have repaired the fence in the past, just for it to be broken down in a day or two, so they stopped repairing the fence.

Next was the TRANSPORT, ROADS & STORMWATER department of the City of Cape Town, who referred me to the Acting Executive Director: Safety and Security. From here I was referred to the traffic department. The response has been mixed, but I'm grateful for those officers who also realised that the problem is real.

The Arrive Alive campaign was also contacted, as well as the RMI Road Safety foundation.

I also continued to stop whenever I encountered pedestrians and trying to educate them about the dangers of running across the road. Realising that this is not a solution, I decided to raise the visibility and involved a number of motoryclists from various online communities, namely Wilddog Adventure Riding, ThinkBike and the Cape BMW Motorcycle Club. A number of motorcyclists joined and we hold regular gatherings to educate pedestrians and raise awareness. The media was also involved, and an article on the issue was published in the Table Talk of 18 March 2009.