Durban - The notorious Town Hill stretch of the N3 in Pietermaritzburg has not had an accident in two weeks, since law enforcement was beefed up, lighting and signage improved and a lane widened.
This is according to James Martin, who heads the Town Hill Community Policing Forum in the provincial capital.
Narrow lanes resulting from construction work and speeding have made a death trap of this section of road in recent months.
“They have been stopping every truck. A lot is being done,” said Martin.
He said the problem boiled down to the amount of lorry traffic with the move from rail not having helped.
“Alternate routes are not acceptable, through suburbs and winding roads.”
The crisis on Town Hill has even led to four critical patients who could be ferried to top Pietermaritzburg hospitals in 45 minutes, going by helicopter at a cost of R75 000 a flight.
Howick-based Ryan King, a director of St Michael’s Ambulance Service SA and an intermediate life support paramedic, said it was often difficult for emergency workers to reach accident scenes on that stretch of road.
Construction work is in progress on both the south and north-bound lanes.
Truck traffic is heavy and often gridlocked while motorists often speed, even overtaking on left lanes of the narrowed road, said King.
He said paramedics sometimes had to abandon their vehicles and walk through queues of cars to reach an accident scene with only the equipment they could carry.
“It’s extremely dangerous and a mess,” he said.
King questioned why construction was taking place on such a long stretch of a busy road rather than over shorter stretches, one at a time.
Emergency workers had to enter the N3 on Town Hill via the R103, which is full of sharp bends and blind rises, he said.
“It is extremely dangerous but we don’t have other options.”
The SA National Road Agency did not respond to requests for comment at the time of going to press.
The Independent on Saturday