Focus on dangerous road

Car crashes, vehicles sliding off the road and damaged fencing have been going on since 2011.
In several cases, cars and at least one motorcyclist have crashed due to no signage warning motorists of a dangerous bend.
The resident who reports this has photographed accidents, interviewed victims and has sent photos to the Midvaal council and local press to prove his case.
Three years of emails have been exchanged between him and the local Midvaal government. This is due to the condition of Retief Road, which he repeatedly reported to an engineering official who no longer works for the local government. Burt Kloppers of Risi Small Farms suspects Midvaal is all about cosmetic window-dressing and the maintenance of roads at commercial centres for the visual benefit of tourists and visitors.
“The rest of us can go to hell,” he remarked. In response, Midvaal spokesperson Aaliyah Dangor said Retief Road is rural and is ‘not intended to be a high-volume or high-speed road’.
“Financial considerations make it impractical to tar this road,” she said. “This is actually the most often graded gravel road in Midvaal.
“A complaint was received from Mr Klopper last week, and Engineering Services currently has people bringing in material and working on the road again this week to keep it in as good and safe a condition as possible,” said Dangor. She reported that Midvaal had noted Kloppers’ accident-reports and the traffic department was currently compiling a report. Action will arise from findings.“While Mr Kloppers’ concerns are noted,” Dangor said, “the municipality cannot justify any actions or maintenance of the road at this stage. Future action will, of course, also be informed by the report of the traffic department.”