Times Of Swaziland: NEGLECTED UNLAWFUL ACT

NEGLECTED UNLAWFUL ACT
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The Editor on 16/10/2019 01:20:00


Sir,
Allow me, as a routine driver along the Eswatini MR3 highway, to raise this
escalating concern on any driver who uses the Manzini - Ngwenya route. At first,
emaSwati respected the road signs erected along the road, especially on off/on
ramps of our highways, However, for the past three years we have seen an
increasing numbers of people walking/jogging/crossing on this dangerous high
speed motorway.
Each time I see a pedestrian along the highway I see death awaiting to strike.
Week in week out there is a pedestrian knocked down by a speeding vehicle to
death. Where are traffic police officers? Police officers conduct roadblocks and
speed checks on the same highway where pedestrians move freely, even passing
right next to the spot where they (police) are?
Bridges
This highway has overhead or underground pedestrian crossing bridges for a
reason. This is anarchy allowed by the law enforcers themselves - the police. I
know exceeding the speed limit by motorists is a major contributor to the
fatalities but that is another issue for the police to monitor.
If this misbehavior is neglected, there will be more fatalities along the
highway, as traffic increases. Worse, now that people have seen that police
officers ignore this anomaly, we will start to see people driving livestock
along the highway, and that would be chaos. Generally, highways are designed for
easy flow of traffic, at reasonably high speeds. Look; there are no speed humps
along highways, and the corners/bends are designed to be gentle such that a
motorist can negotiate them at high speed. I, therefore, challenge our traffic
police department to curb this growing problem while it’s still controllable.
A lot of lives will be spared simply by enforcing the law. I write this because
of trauma. Recently I came across an accident scene along the highway (luckily
police were already on the scene), a child (judging from the size of the visibly
lifeless body, and the small backpack on the side), probably was heading for a
pre-school or day-care centre, and I then wondered who was wrong in that
scenario; was it the driver, the child or the parent/guardian at home? How can a
three or four-year-old child know that it is wrong to jaywalk along the highway,
let alone any general high speed motorway, if adults do it? It hurts!
Concerned driver
Matsapha
NOTE: In an effort to afford them the Right to Reply, this letter was emailed to
the Royal Eswatini Police Service on Wednesday, October 9, 2019. However, there
has been no response forthcoming.
Ed