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High Danger Zone : This is a high danger zone and this picture - taken on the R103 outside Nottingham Road Combined School tells it all. Locals are asking whether the authorities must wait for some of these kids to be killed before action is taken against these trucks.

Mooi River : Chaos on the R103

Truckers using the R103 alternative route between Mooi River and Nottingham Road to avoid paying the toll fee at the Mooi River plaza on the N3 have raised the hackles of local residents whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the increased traffic on this once peaceful meander. FleetWatch editor Patrick O'Leary spent a day with the locals.

Night Ban : Hayden Soobramoney is fighting to get trucks banned on the R103. He has got the authorities to agree to implementing a night-time ban on trucks over 10t between Mooi River and Nottingham road. Night roadblocks have been held to enforce the ban.

The N3 is a safe road to travel and it's set to become even safer given the roadworks currently underway along various sections of the route. However, let's admit it. There's some sections that are pretty snory, aren't there? They remind me of a saying of a friend of mine: Sometimes I sits and thinks - sometimes I just sits.

For families with young kids travelling from Johannesburg down to the coast, the section from Johannesburg to Harrismith is a long slog. There not much scope for 'I-spy-with my little eye' games when all you've got to spy on is miles of flat, featureless mielie fields. So the kids concentrate on each other - and that when the chaos starts.

Once past Harrismith, the spirits perk up as you wind your way down the magnificent Van Reenens Pass and later level out to travel through some really pleasant countryside. However, the kids soon lose interest in the scenery and start getting edgy round about Ladysmith. They then refocus on each other which results in mom refocusing on them as she pleads with you to stop the car and throw them out. Hard people these women are.

Local trucker : An interesting road-side conversation ensued between Moira Grueneberg and Boet Groenewald, owner of Twins Trucking based in Rosetta.

"Roll on Mooi River," you whisper to yourself as you concentrate on shutting out the 'debate'.

"What's that?" the she-goddess barks at you.

How does she do that? How does she manage to hear everything?

"I said: Roll them out into a river."

"Yes! Yes! That's good. That'll work. Let's do it," she agrees enthusiastically warming to you as an ally. Good Grief!

You send your mind out to the right of the N3 to wander in the magnificent Drakensberg mountains and just as you're cooling off in a clear mountain stream, a voice jars you from your reverie. "If you do that again I'll get daddy to stop the car. I'm warning you, I will. We'll drop you off on the side of the road and pick you up again on our way back from holiday. Won't we daddy?"

"What's that?" Doesn't she know the water was just so cool.

"Won't we daddy?" she barks again. "I said to the kids that if they…."

Yeah, Yeah! Roll on Mooi River. Doesn't she know that not even hardy truckers stop on the side of the road anymore for fear of being hijacked.

And there it is. The toll plaza grows bigger and you find yourself shouting - over and over and over again. "Yes! Yes! The off-ramp to sanity." Strange how silence descends as the family stares at you with mouths open. And then the silence is broken.

Springvale Bridge : where Moira Grueneberg's husband and daughter were nearly killed in a head-on collision with a truck overtaking another truck on this bridge.

"There's no need to shout," says the she-goddess, surprising me that she's still got a voice after the last 100 k's of vigorous and extremely active 'debate' with the kids. Good grief!

The windows go down, the air-con gets switched off and the stranger in the booth gets visibly nervous at the exuberance of your greeting. "Hi. How are you. I've been looking forward to seeing you for the past 400 kilometres. Do you want to go on a picnic. Can I pay you with a family instead of a card." She grabs my bucks and waves me on. Bye!

Calm descends

As you drive up the off-ramp, a calmness envelopes the car as the storm clouds squeeze through the open windows and race up to their place in the sky. You cross the bridge towards the little town of Mooi River, turn left at the Wimpy and at last, you're on the road to peace and harmony. You're on the Midlands Meander, a route which takes you far from the madding crowd. Everyone is happy. Everyone is relaxed. Everyone is sane.

The Road Surface : is fast deteriorating as this picture denotes.

"How's my darlings," purrs my angelic wife, the former she-goddess, as she looks back lovingly at her precious brood. "I'm glad we didn't leave them on the road. And how could you even think of rolling them out into a river?" she adds. Good grief!

It's all forgotten and that's what the Midlands Meander does to you. It brings you back to mother-earth. No more need to worry about zero-tolerance on this route. The pace is slow as you meander through the countryside passing quaint little craft-shops, bed and breakfast establishments and other such delights. Between Mooi River and Nottingham Road, you're going to pass places with delightful names like Mountain View Country House, Hobbits Hut, Which Craft, The Hedgehog and The Otter and, most apt, Country Living.

You're in no rush so you pull off onto a farm road to sample the goat's cheese on sale. The road curves and takes you into the small village of Rosetta where you stop and pop into The Rose & Pig, a restaurant and pub owned by an old friend, Trevor Field. Afterwards you stroll across the road to browse in the antique shop where Noel Dix is on hand to enthuse with those who enthuse over antiques. Alongside is Crispin's Corner where Jumbo and Dorothy De Bruyn make their living from selling shoes, slippers, leather goods and various items of arts and crafts to passing travellers and tourists.

Foreign Trucks : Another truck heads out on the R103 towards Nottingham road. This truck has turned off the N3 at the Hidcote off-ramp so as to avoid the toll fee at the Mooi River Plaza. Locals have observed that many of the trucks travelling the R103 belong to foreign companies.

You continue your journey and it's not long before you pass Nottingham Road Combined School on the right just before you enter the delightful little town of Nottingham Road. There you turn left at the Bow & Arrow, go under the railway bridge and cross over to The Junction where you stop for more browsing and a helping of fresh scones and tea.

The locals are friendly. They love visitors - and they get plenty of them with some eight million passing through the Midlands Meander last year, about a third of them being South Africans and the balance overseas tourists. This is according to the KZN Department of Tourism.

Precious to the locals

It's no wonder the Midlands Meander is so precious to the locals. Not only does it bring in money from visitors - around R600-million two years ago - but it also creates employment in an area which has been devastated by unemployment following the scaling down of Mooi River Textiles which used to employ 2 000 locals and now employs only 200. After farming - including numerous stud farms - the tourist trade is the second biggest 'industry' in the area.

You then head out back towards the N3. The drive out of Nottingham Road is magic - open fields dotted with healthy cattle lazily grazing their days away. It's beautiful, peaceful and a true asset to this country. That's what it is. Or, more accurately, that's what it was. It's changing and all fingers are being pointed at the trucking industry for bringing about those changes.

Negligent : on-site safety practices around the construction site have already resulted in a four car pile-up.

In the past, visitors would pop into Mountain View Country House for an overnight stay. This bed and breakfast establishment is situated just off the road outside Rosetta and it's owner, Margaret Louw, could guarantee her guests a peaceful night's sleep. Now, however, visitors are woken from their slumber several times a night by the roar of passing trucks. And it's affecting the business with a definite fall-off in guests already noticeable.

But it's not only the businesses in the era that are been affected. The lives of the locals have been changed for the worse with all of them now living in absolute fear whenever they take to the road. There is a safety factor here and there is no better way to illustrate this than to recount how Moira Grueneberg, wife of local farmer Jeremy, got involved in what is turning into a big fight.

"I had experienced daily close encounters with trucks but then one day my husband and daughter were travelling towards Mooi River and were nearly killed in a head-on collision with a truck which was overtaking another truck on the narrow Springvale bridge over a solid white line. It was gross negligent driving and if my husband had not gone off the road, they would have both been killed. I nearly lost my family and that's when I decided enough is enough."

That incident spurred Grueneberg into action and as she investigated the situation more closely, she got more and more concerned. In fact, she got "terrified". By that time, Hayden Soobramoney, branch chairman of the Democratic Party for Mooi River, had already been onto the case writing letters to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and right up to the Vice President asking for intervention. He was happy to now have Grueneberg on his side.

Reversal of toll fees

The intervention he was seeking was for a reversal by the N3TC of the increased toll fees at the Mooi River toll plaza. "Our problems started after November 29th last year when the toll fees were increased. When this happened, we noticed an almost immediate increase in the number of heavy vehicles using the R103 to avoid paying the toll fee - getting on and off the N3 at the Hidcote and Nottingham Road ramps," he says.

He adds that although the N3TC has denied that the toll fee hike is responsible for the increase in traffic on the R103, every local resident can testify to this being true. "It's got to the stage where the trucks are ruling the road and the locals are terrified of them," says Soobramoney.

Grueneberg confirms this: "I noticed it after the school holidays when I started taking my daughter to school again. There was a marked increase in the number of trucks using this road." I could quote many others but believe me, they all agree on the point - and that includes Sergeant Sikhosiphi Enoch Msomi of the Mooi River Police who I spoke to at the scene of an accident.

"There are many trucks here now and they are using this road to avoid the higher toll. They are causing big problems because this road was never designed to carry those trucks with their heavy loads. It was designed to carry cars. The drivers are also reckless and dangerous especially in the evening and early mornings. It is not a good situation," he told FleetWatch.

He adds that because many of the trucks are unroadworthy, there are breakdowns and when that happens, the situation becomes dangerous as the road is narrow and there is no room for other traffic to manoeuvre past the truck.

"Also, when that happens, we then get called out to help with traffic control and that takes us away from our police duties. These trucks must go."

Those words, 'these trucks must go', are echoed by every local FleetWatch spoke to. In short, they have had enough and they have every reason to be angry - and scared. Almost every resident has had a close encounter with a truck.

Scary out there

Listen to antique dealer Noel Dix, who has been in the area for five years: "I play bridge at night and although the trucks have not curtailed my social life, I am terrified when I come home from bridge. They are big and if they hit you, it will be like a huge ship hitting a tiny yacht. They will demolish you and probably won't even notice they've done so. It's scary out there at night," he says, adding that he too agrees that the increased traffic is as a result of the toll hike. "The more they put up the fees, the more trucks will use this road."

Many of the residents are waiting for the 'big bang' and, given the circumstances of the road, that 'bang' is not going to be a pleasant one for it could involve kids. There's a school just outside Nottingham Road called the Nottingham Road Combined School and every day hundreds of kids are seen walking on the side of this narrow road.

The danger of a potential accident was realised some time ago and the DoT agreed to construct a sidewalk and a barrier to protect the kids. Pull over areas would also be constructed for buses and taxis. This contract was awarded some time ago but there have been numerous delays that have exacerbated the safety situation in that area.

A letter received by Soobramoney from the assistant regional engineer of the KZN DoT stated that the sidewalks and installation of the guardrails would be completed by July 4th. It also gave dates for the completion of other site work. When FleetWatch visited the area, it was nowhere near complete. The guard rails were lying on the side of the road along with the wooden posts, nails and other material.

This construction work has been a shambles. It's a joke. While those kids are being exposed to daily danger - and especially since more heavy trucks are now using the road - the construction company is taking its time by dawdling away at who knows what.

I've visited the site and sure as I'm sitting here, the big bang will come. I just hope those responsible for the delays and tardy, shoddy work will be there on the day. Already there has been a four-car pile-up when a truck dumping stones was parked across the road without any of the normal, accepted advance warning signs for other traffic. That construction company needs a boot somewhere - and we all know where that is.

The delay in construction has, however, one positive attached to it. It has enabled the locals to get a ban imposed on heavy vehicles using the road between Mooi River and Nottingham Road between 18h00 and 06h00. But this ban will only stay in place for the duration of the construction work. After that, it will be lifted. That's good news for the locals because the pace that company is going at means the ban will be there for years to come.

Difficult to solve

The overall problem is a real one and yet is a difficult one to solve given that the trucks have every right to use that road. The N3TC has also indicated that it has no intention of reducing the toll as last year's increase was its one opportunity to bring the toll fee to where the N3TC believes it should be. As a matter of interest, it is also no longer a legal requirement for an alternative route to be provided for a toll road so that takes the R103 out of the hands of the N3TC.

FleetWatch can also understand why truckers are using the road. It's hard times in the trucking industry nowadays and if you can save some bucks by using an alternative route, you'll do so. And there is no law preventing them from using the R103. What we can't understand is the negligent driving habits of those drivers. They are a real threat to the lives of other road users on the R103 and there are plenty of incidents to confirm this. They are going to kill someone on that road.

On the other side, FleetWatch can also understand the concerns of the local residents and business owners. On the one hand there is a safety factor, on the other there is an economic factor. The road is deteriorating and the truck drivers are negligent. There is real concern that if the situation continues as it is, this stretch of the Midlands Meander will be avoided by visitors who play such a vital role in the economy of the region.

At the moment, the residents feel they are fighting a losing battle but they are not going to give up. Grueneberg and Soobramoney are taking every possible reasonable route they can to find a solution but the bottom line is they all want the trucks to use the toll road and stay off the R103.

However, they also feel that all their reasonable pleas have fallen on deaf ears. "The authorities involved in the issue have up to now displayed a total lack of concern for the concerns of the local community. The Minister of Transport in the Province has been totally impotent in dealing with the issue and the same can be said for his colleague in the national Parliament and the South Africa National Road Agency," says Soobramoney.

The only authority which the residents feel has been fully co-operative is John Schnell's Road Traffic Inspectorate in Pietermaritzburg who have given their full co-operation in road blocks set up to enforce the night driving ban on the road implemented during the construction phase.

Interesting is that the people who have reacted positively have been some of the trucking companies contacted by Grueneberg, who has made it one of her tasks to record the company names of the trucks using the road and to contact the owners.

"Many of them have been grateful to me for pointing out that their trucks are using the R103 instead of the toll road with many saying their drivers are not authorised to drive on this road. Their drivers are obviously pocketing the toll fees given to them. There are, however, one or two companies which have responded negatively stating they will continue using the road as it is their right."

Genuine concerns

Having being on the scene, FleetWatch urges all truckers to give consideration to the concerns of the locals. Their concerns are genuine and they deserve to be heard. That aside, it is in your own interest to do so. That road is not designed for trucks. And while you're at it, check out if you are really saving money. A study done shows that you are not.

And while you're doing that, please call your drivers into your office and ask them why they are driving like maniacs out there. Their actions are a disgrace to this industry and it's going to bounce back. There is going to be a big bang where someone will be killed. It's going to happen.

As I see it, this situation can be resolved through joint understanding and agreement and the way to do this is for all the role players to get together to gain a full appreciation of each other's problems. FleetWatch is quite prepared to facilitate such a meeting should we be requested to do so. And a good start would be for the authorities to listen to the electorate. Ignoring the issue is not what is expected from those in power.

If nothing is resolved soon, the danger remains that the locals are going to depart from the path of reason they have travelled up to now and will switch to other drastic measures such as roadblocks. It's not out of the question - despite them being warned not to do so. And one can understand their frustration. Consider this e-mail from Grueneberg received recently.

"Another accident yesterday. Not far towards Rosetta. Young Dylan Spowart exited his home towards Rosetta only to be met by a massive truck on his tail minutes later. The truck overtook him then met an oncoming truck and simply started to push Dylan over. Dylan took to the dust but the truck's trailer side-swiped his little bakkie, taking out the mirror, door, etc. This is the second time Dylan has had such an experience in three months. His mother is out to kill!"

Again, I stress that that is just one of many stories of close shaves. To everyone involved in this issue, please take note of those last words - "his mother is out to kill."

The mothers in this area are being pushed beyond the point of reason. And who can blame them? The lives of their children are at stake and they will defend those young lives no matter the consequences. When those women band together, it will be a point of no return. They will take drastic action. Wouldn't you if the life of your child was under threat by some outside influence?