The four-way Kommetjie Road intersection.
The City of Cape Town has approved a speed camera for Kommetjie Road, between the recently upgraded four-way intersection and the Capri traffic lights.
Chairman of Sunnydale Ratepayers’ Association Chris Dooner said that while the accident rate at the four-way intersection had always been high, speeding between it and the Capri traffic lights had become more dangerous, especially for motorists trying to enter Kommetjie Road from Wingate Heights.
In the meantime, the City has posted 60km speed-limit-camera signage on both sides of the road, one at the beginning of the carriageway to the Capri traffic lights and the other at the beginning of the carriageway in the direction of Fish Hoek, which grants traffic officers permission to trap.
On Wednesday July 28 there was a collision between two cars and an Ocean View police van at the intersection of Kommetjie Road and Glencairn Expressway.
Cape Medical Response (CMR) spokesman Darren Zimmerman said six of the eight people involved in the crash had been taken to hospital with minor injuries. Three of the injured were being transported in the van.
Mr Dooner said the association had started motivating for speed and red-light-transgression cameras at the four-way intersection in 2016. “We presented the City with statistics, which we requested from Fish Hoek SAPS. There were 75 accidents at the robots between January 2014 to January 2016. That equates to an accident every nine days,” he said.
The process was halted by the Kommetjie Road upgrade, which started in October 2016. The upgrade covered some 3.5km and included turning Kommetjie Road (M65) into a four-lane dual-carriageway between Capri Drive and Corsair Way, as well as the rehabilitation of the existing roadway (“Kommetjie Road project is complete,” Echo July 28, 2020).
However, no cameras had been installed with the upgrade and crashes had continued to happen, said Mr Dooner.
The association complained that since the upgrade there had been more speeding between the four-way intersection and the traffic lights at the entrance to Capri
Mr Dooner said the association had thought the City would approve a speeding/red-light-transgression camera but it had learnt that the camera would only detect speeding motorists and not those jumping the lights.
City traffic services spokesman Richard Coleman confirmed that a static speed camera had been approved for the road between the four-way intersection and the Capri traffic lights.
Several legal processes had to be completed before the camera could be installed, he said.
Mr Dooner said the association had also proposed a speeding/red-light-transgression camera for the four-way intersection, but that application had not been finalised.
Fish Hoek Police station commander Lieutenant Colonel Jackie Johnson confirmed that they were investigating the crash involving the Ocean View police van. Ocean View police spokesman Sergeant Mfundo Nyengane confirmed a case of negligent driving was being investigated.