Issues around the problematic Ottery Link Road, which is a high accident spot, are far from over as the City of Cape Town said no permanent infrastructure construction may take place until the construction of the MyCiti Route leading to Wynberg.
Ottery Road is earmarked and is a secondary arterial route, and motorists are told to drive with caution and adhere to the road regulations to prevent accidents.
This is in response to an outcry by the community to the City of Cape Town to act before a tragedy happens.
The danger is identified in the middle intersection of Link Road, turning to the right, where motor vehicle collisions often occur over the years, and not even the recent interventions helped, according to the community.
Olivia De Vries, a resident said: "I don't understand what the City did by putting those poles because it hasn't really changed anything. The right turn remains a danger and the road should just be a one way, allowing traffic to make a left turn."
She said the current situation makes it difficult driving, either between the direction of the Hypermarket or the local pharmacy onto Ottery Road.
City mayco member for urban mobility Councillor Rob Quintas said following residents’ concerns due to crashes, the City Transport Department undertook an investigation of the Link Road/Ottery Road intersection in 2011 and the changes were implemented on June 22. However, he said there had since been no feedback sessions to engage with the community.
"Various traffic management options were considered at the Ottery Road/Link Road intersection at that time, including prohibition of right turn movements. Our initial intervention of prohibition signage and road markings was ignored and ultimately, did not resolve the problem. In review, we resolved to retain right turn movement into Ottery Road by realigning the stop control on the Link Road approach to meet Ottery Road at right angles thereby improving sight distance and to provide better lane definition. In anticipation that some motorists may continue to disobey the new interventions, flexible bollards were placed in the interest of road safety."
Quintas said recent crash data for the periods 2021 and 2022 has not been captured as yet.
Ward councillor William Akim said the matter had been an issue for the past nine years and required intensive intervention by the Department of Transport as well as engineers to investigate and come up with permanent solution. He said Ottery Road already had three sets of traffic lights and it would be impossible to have an additional set, but would rather recommend a raised traffic calming "to force motorists to slowdown when coming on to the intersection. Also it would help to have a sign board indicating the prohibition of the right turn“.
"Given that the entire route is to be reconstructed in the coming years, no physical infrastructure was considered, as it will be deemed wasteful expenditure, considering the imminent roll-out of the MyCiTi service," responded Quinta's.
"However, no measure of traffic calming would prevent accidents from happening if the drivers have no respect for the road and the attitude doesn't change.
"We have taken time to observe and despite the intersection being a danger, some drivers just won't stop to observe and or to give a right of way to the oncoming traffic."