A petition has been launched by Mossel Bay residents to find an alternative entrance to its magistrate’s court following an accident that claimed the life of a young pupil who crashed into the back of her brother’s motorbike.
Norica dos Reis da Silva, 18, was riding her motorbike down Louis Fourie Road on her way to school on Tuesday last week, when she crashed into her 16-year-old brother.’s motorcycle, who washad been riding Ethan da Silva,right in front of her.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Christopher Spies said Dos Reis da Silva and her brother, Ethan, had both been on their way to Point High School when the accident occurred.
“It is alleged the brother stopped for a turning vehicle when his sister collided into him from behind.”
Spies said she had sustained serious head injuries and died later in hospital.
A memorial service was held for the girl on Thursday.
Ethan, meanwhile, sustained minor injuries.
Mossel Bay resident Peggy Roux, who began the petition, said the entrance to the court had been a headache for residents for years as there was no signage or measures in place to indicate to motorists that the abrupt left turn was coming, or that cars would be joining the main thoroughfare from the side street leading to the court.
“I was part of the neighbourhood watch between 2011 and 2018, and at that stage I had already started to fight the municipality about that entrance.
“It’s dangerous and there have been numerous accidents on the road,” Roux said.
Speaking on the petition, Roux, an avid biker herself, said it had already garnered 200 signatures since its launch this week.
“We even launched an online petition [on Thursday] and we’re hoping that people use it so their voices can be heard.
“We’re also planning a motorcade to the town’s mayor to hand over the petition.”
Dos Reis da Silva’s grieving mother, Elzanne, said the road had broken their family.
“We are a biker family and today we look at our bikes differently.”
The family moved to Mossel Bay from Pretoria 10 years ago.
“My daughter was extremely caring about others, an empathetic person, a lover of animals and a lover of bikes.”
Dos Reis da Silva turned 18 a month before her death.
“For her 18th birthday she asked to trade in her bike for a bigger one but we were reluctant, saying that we should get her a car instead.
“She insisted on the bike because biking was in her blood,” Elzanne said.
Municipal manager Colin Puren said they also supported the suggestion to introduce an alternative to the current access route from Louis Fourie Road to the Mossel Bay magistrate’s court.
“It is well known that Louis Fourie Road is a provincial road.
“As a result, over the years, the municipality has made repeated strongly motivated pleas for action to close the existing junction and grant alternative access.
“The municipality already provided an alternative access to the court from Worsboom Street, behind the Heiderand Mall, and up to the magistrate’s court in 2018,” Puren said.
He said the municipality had recently attempted to reconnect with the various departments, including the provincial and national structures, which are meant to carry out the infrastructure project on behalf of the department of justice and constitutional development.
“So far, no response has been received to the written requests for a meeting [and] Mossel Bay municipality does not have the jurisdiction to close or unilaterally amend the current access to the court via Louis Fourie Road.”
Point High School also held a memorial for the grade 11 pupil on Thursday to celebrate her life and achievements.
The head of communication for the department of transport and public works, Jandré Bakker, said the department was aware of the efforts to close the access from Trunk Road.
“The stark reality is that the court is operational and acceptable alternative access must first be made available before [access from Trunk Road] can be closed.”
Bakker said the access used was an unofficial access to the cemetery which was registered in the municipality’s name.
“Though an alternative access road has been provided up to a point from where a servitude access road to the court must be built, that road does not currently exist and all court staff and visitors have to drive along cemetery roads, which is, for a section, just a 3.2m brick-paved road.
“There has been interaction with the land owner of the court premises to implement a missing part of the alternative access road,” he said
HeraldLIVE
.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.