The Hell Run between Laingsburg and Beaufort West

Cape Town traffic authorities are gearing up for the holiday season with their arrive alive campaign.

Certain sections of road are particularly dangerous and the authorities are monitoring them over the course of the Christmas holiday season.

The stretch of road between Beaufort West and Laingsburg on the N1 has become known as the road of death as there are always fatal accidents taking place along it.

The problem is that this stretch of road is reached after about eight hours of driving from Johannesburg and four from Cape Town.

By the time motorists reach this point they are starting to get tired.

The distance between the two towns further exacerbates the problem as it is about 220 kilometres long and is dead straight for most of the time.

There is absolutely nothing to keep the driver alert and many times especially at night drivers nod off.

Of course when drivers fall asleep anything can happen and usually does with fatal consequences.

A visit to the hospital at Laingsburg brought home to me how bad the reputation of that stretch of road really is.

Smaller hospitals normally have one or two stretcher trolleys waiting in casualty.

Here there were four or five and a casualty ward with five beds all set up and ready for emergency work.

Very scary for a hospital in the middle of nowhere.

Having visited a casualty ward where there were accident victims being treated I could just imagine what the ward would be like in an emergency.

The N1 being the main highway between Cape Town and Johannesburg carries many large vehicles.

Sitting in a restaurant near the entrance to Laingsburg I counted the trucks entering and leaving Laingsburg.

The numbers were astronomical. Ten or twelve in as many minutes.

That means that the road up ahead has a convoy of trucks on it.

Most of them travelling at speeds much lower than the average car can travel.

Which driver on a long distance trip is going to slow down and sit behind a truck for any length of time without taking a chance to overtake.

It's when there is a buildup of cars behind a truck that the real problems begin.

Some driver, a couple of cars back will lose his patience, and then attempt to pass a number of cars and a truck in one go, sometimes on a blind rise or over a solid white line.

This is when the accidents happen as suddenly there is an oncoming vehicle bearing down on the overtaking vehicle and nowhere for it to go.

It either forces the oncoming car off the road or there is a head on collision which involves many more than just the one vehicle.

What a waste of lives when this happens.

Is there a solution to this traffic problem?

Our authorities seem to think that it's the speed that kills.

Yes! maybe it does.

Speed in itself however is not dangerous but when there are slower vehicles on the road forcing motorists to slow down then accidents happen.

Authorities are trying to rectify the problem by setting up speed traps and permanent cameras in remote areas.

In my opinion this is a money making exercise and not a road safety exercise.

The real solution is to take slower vehicles off the roads during peak periods and then to monitor the speeds of the other vehicles using the roads by use of the cameras.

That way they will be looking after road safety and also preventing build ups behind slower vehicles causing frustration to the already tired driver.

Your comments will be appreciated.

Geoff Fairman

ps. Turtle Essays ezine no 113 featuring many of Cape Town's attractions will be online shortly. Here is the link.

Cape Town Attractions

Grabouw Open Day

Another display of colour at Duncan's Roses in Grabouw




Some more of the beautiful roses that are cultivated on the farms in the Grabouw area





Tunnel of roses

Read the articles on the Grabouw Open day here

Geoff Fairman

Shark Attack

The normally tranquil Fish Hoek Beach

It was always Durban that one read about in the newspapers when it came to shark attacks.

Durban took action and put down shark nets and solved the problem.

There has not been a fatal shark attack there for years.

What is going on in Cape Town?

We have had a number of attacks over the past few months.

A surf ski rider had his ski bitten in two by a large shark off Fish Hoek beach.

He managed to escape the shark after being thrown into the water and keeping the length of the ski between him and the shark.

Then a young surfer was attacked near Muizenberg and lost his leg in the attack.

He was declared dead on the beach after the attack but somehow was revived and has lived to tell the tale.

Then it was the turn of another surfer who was badly mauled near Scarborough on the Atlantic coastline.


Sitings of large sharks have occurred near Noordhoek on the Atlantic coastline.

The worst attack so far occurred yesterday when an elderly lady going for an early morning swim landed in the path of a six metre shark a couple of hundred metres off Fish Hoek beach.

The shark and the swimmer were both spotted by an observer from the hill above Fish Hoek Bay.

Unfortunately there was nothing the observer could do to warn the swimmer or scare off the shark.

To his horror the shark grabbed the lady in its mouth and the sea boiled and turned red as it went about its dirty work.

The only thing left behind by the shark was the lady's red bathing cap.

Tyna Webb a lady of 77 years of age has lived in Fish Hoek for years and had developed a ritual of going for an early morning swim every day be it winter or summer.

She is not alone as there are many other residents of Fish Hoek who do the same.

Unfortunately for her she crossed paths with this large shark and paid with her life.

Fish Hoek beach is normally one of the nicest, safest swimming beaches along the False Bay coastline but has now lost its reputation and will always be remembered as the beach where Tyna Webb lost her life.

Our condolences and prayers go out to the family during this extremely traumatic time in their lives.

The question on everyone's lips is!

What are the authorities going to do about this rogue shark which has been terrorising the beaches along the False Bay coastline?

Should it live or should it die?

Your comments will be appreciated.


Geoff Fairman

Turtle Essays brings people together.

I have been writing articles about Cape Town for more than two years now and every now and again I get an email from someone who has read one of my articles.

Just this week I have been contacted by someone who walked the streets of Kommetjie where I grew up before I was born.

It appears that he was part of a contingent of Royal navy people who were stationed at Kommetjie's Slangkop Radio during the war years , 1946 -1950.

It's great hearing from these people especially as my Mom who is still alive is trying to contact some of the friends that she made then.

If you know anyone who was stationed in Kommetjie around that time please contact me at

Contact Geoff

Read the article about Cape Town radio

Cape Town Radio

Thanks

Geoff Fairman

ps. Turtle Essays Travel Bazaar is online now. Check it out for all your Cape Town travel needs.
Here's the link: Travel bazaar

A thief caught in the act

This week I took a trip down to the southern suburbs of Cape Town.

While taking some pictures of Camel Rock I decided to take some of the houses built along the hillside.

The first picture shows the thief climbing over the wall
(bottom right hand corner) with his loot in his hand.









This next picture shows the thief eating his loot.




This baboon is one of the many Chacma baboons that descend on the villages in the southern Peninsula.

They break into houses, open fridges and help themselves and generally make an unholy mess.

I lived in the Kommetjie area for years and in that time never saw a baboon in the village.

Urban spread and fires have caused the baboons to move down off the mountains and into the villages where easy pickings of food are to be had.

Every now and again somebody corners one and either injures it or kills it.

There is always a hue and cry when this happens.

What should one do about these nuisance animals.

If they want something, they walk up and take it and should you refuse to give it to them they get aggressive.

Whatever it is is soon discarded when the baboon finds it is not food.

Turtle Essays ezine no 110 has been published.

To get it
Click here

Geoff Fairman

**

Huguenot Tunnel

Cape Town is surrounded by mountains and the only way out was over or around them.

That of course was the problem until in 1984 work began on the Huguenot Tunnel.

The tunnel was completed in 1986 and was taken into use.

At the time two tunnels were built, with only the southern one being used for traffic.

Some interesting things are happening in the northern tunnel.

Read all about it in the new Turtle Essays Ezine which can be found at
Ezine109

There appears to be a row brewing over the name of the tunnel.

The tunnel was named after the Huguenots who escaped from persecution in France and came to to the Cape and established the wine industry in the Stellenbosch, Franschhoek areas of the Cape.

These days politics in South Africa dictate that everything that was named by the previous government has to be changed and given a new name.

In this instance they want to change the name of the tunnel to the Dullah Omar tunnel in honour of the transport minister who died recently.

Why change names if it is not necessary. Build new things and honour people that way.

What do you think?

Geoff Fairman

http://www.turtlesa.com