Yesterday morning we added a blog post to the Road Safety Blog titled “Beware of the deadly Bloemfontein intersection!” Tonight at 18h40 I crossed this intersection on route to a church cell meeting – only to find police and emergency vehicles and injured people loaded in the back of an ambulance!
I could not help ask myself whether we are doing enough to instil in the minds of traffic authorities the need to urgently address this intersection and to have traffic lights installed! What can we do and what should we do?
Can we live with the regret that someone has lost a life – a life that could have been saved through the installation of traffic lights at a dangerous intersection. I may be accused of being a pain in a butt – and frankly –I don’t give a damn! I am not willing to live with a preventable death on my conscience…Earlier this year I reported a dangerous road condition on this very same road [R64] and the failure by traffic authorities to safeguard the hazard has brought about the following image – something I still have clearly imprinted in my mind:
[ I believe a court case is still pending against the traffic authorities/ municipality]
Perhaps the time has come to use the mechanisms provided by the criminal law to ensure that traffic lights are installed as a matter of urgency! The Criminal Law allows for the prosecution of persons who, through their negligence, cause the death of another. A person who has unlawfully and negligently caused the death of another can be charged with culpable homicide. There are many decisions in case law confirming that where a person has a legal duty to guard against an immediate threat – and fails to act diligently and with care – he could be prosecuted for this failure to act!
It is clear from the previous posts that:
– someone at the local municipality has the obligation to review potentially hazardous intersections
– this intersection and the life-threatening risks have been brought to the attention of the municipality on numerous occasions – both via letters, emails, newspaper reports etc
– More than 20 accidents have been reported to the nearby police station since the start of 2009
I believe that it is important to bring this to the attention of the state attorneys or public protector. If the persons required to authorize the installation of traffic lights are not listening to the everyday concerned citizen – perhaps they will listen to legal advice and a clear warning that a charge will be laid for culpable homicide for the failure to act when the next person dies in a fatal collision at this intersection!!