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) Drag drivers putting lives at risk
Dragsters play dice
Craig Wakefield from the NNW at the inter section in Old Paarl Road, where drag racing takes place on a regular basis.
DESIREÉ RORKE
Quarter-mile races are starting up in Old Paarl Road again, to the utter dread of residents, and despite recent law enforcement operations. These speedsters seem to be a law unto themselves, and the City of Cape Town is clearly not coping. “Drag dices” as it is better said in the colloquial, have been problematic in Old Paarl Road near Northpine for years, despite ongoing efforts by traffic services and law enforcement. According to Craig Wakefield of
the Northpine Neighbourhood Watch (NNW), the dicing occurs on a periodic basis at night over weekends, between Northpine Drive and the 7 Eleven or further into Brighton Road. It also often takes place from the N1 bridge over Frans Conradie in Okavango Road, Brackenfell in the direction of Old Paarl Road, with participants ignoring all road signs, stop streets and traffic regulations, causing several accidents over the last two years – one fatal and other serious injuries being the result. “Whenever the coast is clear, the speedsters show up. They come
from the direction of Brackenfell, Old Paarl Road to Kraaifontein. At times they congregate at the Shell garage, parking off, some of them drinking and making a noise with loud music. They rev their cars and spin their wheels, causing a huge disturbance for others,” says Wakefield. According to him it is an earful for the residents living nearby and that the lives of other road users are also endangered by their reckless driving during the races. “When they see the NNW patrols, they normally speed off to the robot at the corner of Northpine Drive and Old Paarl to turn right into the
direction of the robots at 7 Eleven or further to Brighton Road, Kraaifontein. “Sometimes, when we approach them they just swear, show obscene gestures and race away,” he says. In March, Wakefield approached the traffic services’ Ghost Squad, and they responded with an operation on Sunday night, 20 March, setting up two speed traps at the same time. The one speed check recorded 164 speed offences in Old Paarl Road between Okavango and Brighton roads, with the highest speed at 133km/h in a 60km zone. The second speed check recorded
176 speed offences in Okavango Road between Old Paarl and Frans Conradie, with the highest speed at 144km/h, also in a 60km zone. Furthermore, two reckless and negligent drivers were arrested on the night in question. “They were two breakdown drivers that were dicing each other in Old Paarl Road and came through the one speed check. A drunk driver was also arrested at the intersection of Old Paarl and Botfontein roads and the driver tested 1.36, which is about five and a half times the legal limit after conversion,” Wakefield says. . To page 2.