Dear Editor,
I don’t know if Minister Benn feels as much of an association with the Soesdyke-Linden Highway as he does with NCN, but I wonder if he can be persuaded to rush up to the highway one night to see how dangerous it can be for some commuters.
A few years ago, after some quite horrific accidents, a decision had been taken to restrict use of the highway by timber trucks during the hours of darkness. It is apparent that this restriction is no longer in place, or is ignored by all who should be enforcing or observing it. One source tells me that business considerations have now become the more important factor.
This matter needs attention for a number of reasons. From the evidence, there is no effort to ensure the suitability and fitness of the trucks being used for transporting timber. Too many of these trucks are collapsing or breaking down under the strain, often in the most inconvenient spots like half way up a hill or on a dangerous bend.
These broken-down trucks tend not to be properly lit or outfitted with reflectors and cones. Those trucks that don’t break down are often unstable whilst in operation, and some travel way too fast for anybody’s good. My experience is that many of these trucks do not have well-lit trailers so that in driving past them in the opposite direction, one is often surprised by the length and width of the vehicle.
Compounding these issues with the trucks is the state of the highway itself. This important passage to Linden and other locations further inland should never have been allowed to degrade to such a state.
Those who have been tasked with repairs and maintenance should not have been paid. I know that the Minister has nixed the idea of electrification along the highway, but are there other technologies that can be employed to provide some lighting?
Let’s not wait for more loss of life to then attend to these matters.
By the way, could Minister Benn send the same folks who cut down those useful billboards at the Millie’s Hideout turn to cut down all except one of those reflector turning arrows that were installed there? They were so poorly aligned that only one makes sense to drivers at night.
Yours faithfully,
Tony Charles
