The City of Cape Town (COCT) has warned motorists to be extra vigilant while travelling on major highways at night. This plea comes after Metro Police officers have been removing loads of rubble from Cape Town’s N2 every evening.
According to the COCT, most of the rubble includes bricks and blocks of concrete, which perpetrators place in the middle of the road to disable vehicles or get motorists to stop, making them vulnerable. However, there are no exact locations for where rubble is placed, areas like Borchard’s Quarry as far as the Symphony Way bridge, the inbound between the R300 and the Airport approach off-ramp are some of the common places where criminals strike.
Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith says it has become a near-nightly occurrence for Metro Police officers to remove rubble from the N2 in addition to their regular patrols.
“While opportunistic criminals lie in wait for motorists to stop, slow down, or have their vehicles disabled, it also has other consequences. Inclement weather, such as thick mist or heavy rain, also leads to more collisions as visibility is reduced and the debris has less chance of being spotted,” Smith said.
Smith said that most of the incidents occur between midnight and 04:00 when there is less traffic on the road. “The success of the ambush is based on motorists not being able to see the obstruction and therefore day time incidents are rare. Despite this, motorists need to be vigilant at all times and not count on daylight as a preventative measure.”
Smith added that motorists should not be fooled into thinking that it’s a stone that may have fallen off a truck or it’s there by accident. but these are deliberate criminal attempts so that when vehicles break down, passengers are robbed or possibly worse.
” Metro Police officers patrol the N2 for 22 hours a day and assist between two and six vehicles every night, but not all of these are because of the vehicle colliding with rubble, ” Smith added.
Smith also warns motorists that if they are required to travel that time of the night, they should take a safer alternate route to their destination.
In an emergency, motorists can call 021 480 7700 from their cell phones.
READ ALSO:
Picture: Cape {town} etc gallery