Spotlight on road upgrades in W Cape

THE road network in the Western Cape, created during an era where only some communities were catered for, is old.

This is the view of former mayoral committee member for urban development and transport in the City of Cape Town, Brett Herron, when asked about the lack of emergency lanes on certain roads in the province.

“When you travel from one community to another you can see where it was developed. The addressing of the historical development of roads across the province or country needs to be done. It should be prioritised and upgraded. The costs are high and it is challenging,” said Herron.

He added that the problem was that some roads or highways, like the N2, were managed by different entities. Some parts are managed by the City of Cape Town, some by the SA National Roads Agency, while some parts are the provincial government’s responsibility.

ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak said emergency lanes were no longer being used only by emergency vehicles. “In our situation, many paramedics will tell you that it is sometimes too dangerous to drive in the emergency lane to an emergency. Often you are tail-gated, come across a stationary vehicle, debris lying in the lane or even pedestrians walking in the lane. This makes it dangerous. We try to stick to one lane between the vehicles and create some sort of emergency ‘corridor’ while vehicles move left and right to open space.”

He said in this situation an emergency lane wasn’t really required as there would be enough room for vehicles to move over.

But Vermaak explained that this state of affairs didn’t mean that emergency lanes should be discarded completely.

Although these lanes are called emergency lanes, they are not solely for the use of emergency vehicles. They are intended for use by emergency vehicles using the lane to respond to emergencies, vehicles suddenly breaking down and needing to move out the way of normal traffic or a driver pulling over to assist in another type of emergency.

“I guess that in some cases road space is limited and in order to accommodate the number of vehicles and lanes, there is just no space to build a large emergency lane. With or without an emergency lane, response times are affected by the amount of traffic on the road.

“You might have noticed that emergency vehicles often pass vehicles as far to the right as possible, especially when there is no ‘corridor’, or when people do not create a ‘corridor’.”

Deputy director for communications at Western Cape Government Department of Health, Mark van der Heever, believes that emergency lanes have no bearing on response times.

“Our driving protocols don’t advocate speeding or driving in emergency lanes. We rely on motorists giving our vehicles right of way when they have their sirens on as they are then either busy transporting an emergency case or responding to an emergency call.”

BRETT HERRON