NOT Only did angry motorist endure snarling traffic for hours following a crash on the R27 but also had to fork out an additional R70 per person for a detour through the Western Coast National Park.
Traffic along the busy R27 came to a standstill on Friday afternoon after two trucks crashed blocking the road.
The usually busy road had a lot more traffic with holidaymakers leaving the city for the long weekend and hundreds of runners making their way to Langebaan for the Weskus Marathon this weekend.
The crash which happened on the road between Darling and Langebaan, closed the R27 West Coast road and traffic was rerouted through the West Coast National Park.
However, motorists adhering to the detour were charged R70 per adult and R35 per child. Alternatively, cars could pass through Yzerfontein, extending their journey by another 50 km on a dirt road.
Shaheed Hendricks from Ommiedraai Athletic Club said a journey that should have taken them two hours was extended to five hours due to the detour.
“There were nearly 150 cars and it took nearly two hours to get through because nobody wanted to pay the money. Their card system was also very slow,” he said.
He added: “We eventually got through at 6:35pm and we were told we are lucky because they’re closing the gate at 7pm.”
“We were only told that they were closing their gates when we got to the front and there were more than 100 cars queuing on both ends of the highway.”
Western Cape department of transport and public works spokesperson Jandré Bakker said: “There were two heavy motor vehicles involved. Vehicle A had a tyre burst and drove into vehicle B. There were no fatalities. The road was closed and traffic was redirected through the West Coast National Park.”
SANParks spokesperson Lauren Clayton said that it was assumed that anyone that enters the park is a visitor.
“Anyone entering a national park will need to pay the conservation fee that is required by the park as it is to be assumed that they are a visitor,” she said.
Hendricks said when driving through the national park, there was no one guiding them on which way to go.
“Thankfully, I knew the park because we ran the race before. What about people who didn’t know the route and could have gotten locked up inside as they were about to close,” he said.
Robin Adams, an Atlantis Harriers runner, said he was livid because travelling from Cape Town to Langebaan in the heat was already a lengthy journey.
“The national park was already 10 km from the accident scene. The traffic at the park was backed up so badly that we barely moved for a while,” he said.
He added: “We realised that at the rate it was moving, we were probably going to stand there for up to two hours. My wife, Lee-Anne and I chose to go through Yzerfontein.”
Adams said they drove through Darling onto the R307 to R45.
“Traffic was backed up. We had to pick up our race packs at 4pm and we only got there at 7pm. A lot of money was spent on petrol and we were so exhausted.”