Restricting heavy vehicles on Kloof Nek Road ‘not an option’

The City's mayoral committee member for urban mobility says Kloof Nek Road is a Class 2 Major Arterial route, and given the restricted number of routes connecting the CBD to Camps Bay and beyond, as well as the road’s functional classification, banning heavy vehicles is not an option.

This statement from Rob Quintas comes after a collision last Thursday night, when a cement truck apparently lost control on Kloof Nek Road and collided with numerous cars before crashing into a wall and coming to a stop.

The City says it will investigate the accident.

“A recent investigation found the average speed for heavy vehicles was 51km/h northbound; and 47km/h southbound; and for light vehicles it was 57km/h northbound and 56km/h southbound. Thus, it was found that the majority of road users do not exceed the speed limit, however, there were isolated instances of speeding,” Mr Quintas said.

He said they will consider implementing additional measures to help mitigate the impact on Kloof Nek Road.

“At certain locations along Kloof Nek Road the gradient is as steep as 14%, as such, the City has already installed warning signage on the Camps Bay side to advise drivers of heavy vehicles to engage the lowest gears,” said Mr Quintas.

“That said, further possible interventions could include the implementation of an arrester bed/s at strategically located places along the road. Given the available space, the City may consider removing the on-street parking in order to accommodate said mitigation measures,” he added.

Traffic Services spokesperson, Maxine Bezuidenhout, confirmed that the road was closed between Upper Union and Burnside Road while SAPS confirmed that a case was registered.

“Be advised that Cape Town Central police registered a reckless and negligent driving with injuries case following an incident on September 26 at 6.10pm on Kloofnek Road, where 15 vehicles and two houses were damaged,” said the SAPS media office.

Ward 77 councillor Francine Higham said this was the third accident on this stretch of road in just over a year in which a heavy duty vehicle lost control.

“With every accident our city emergency services respond quickly to the scene, and thankfully to date there have been no fatalities. Of course the trauma, the cost, and the damage to property can’t be ignored,” said Ms Higham.

“I engaged extensively with the City’s Urban Mobility Department after the accidents in September last year to implement measures to reduce speed and improve safety on Kloof Nek Road.”

Ms Higham said: “We’ve changed the signage all along Kloof Nek Road to reflect the fact that the speed limit has been reduced from 60km/h to 50km/h. This includes the signage on the Camps Bay Drive approach which also has warning lights. Importantly, the speed camera on Kloof Nek Road is fully operational. We’ve included signage near the top of Kloof Nek Road to remind truck drives to gear down, which is preferable to relying solely on brakes, as they are sometimes at risk of failing on steep declines. The City also installed a new signalised pedestrian crossing at the top of Kloof Nek Road, at the intersection of Tafelberg Road and Signal Hill Drive.”

The City's urban mobility directorate began discussions on an efficient passenger rail service on Tuesday, citing the fact that 89% of Cape Town commuting trips are by car, which is unsustainable.

“There is an over-reliance on road-based transport in Cape Town as commuters have been steadily shifting from passenger rail to the road network since 2012.

‘’The City’s latest updated Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan (CITP) 2024 confirms this: 1.3% of commuters use passenger rail, 10% walk and the rest rely on private vehicles (57.5%), bus (6.9%) and minibus-taxis (22.4%). The current uptake of passenger rail is even less than metered-taxis and e-hailing services (2.2%),” the City statement said.

“Simply expanding road capacity is not only extremely expensive and time consuming, it only provides short-term relief as evidence shows that the new roads and lanes are simply attracting more private vehicles onto the road,” the statement says.

In terms of crash statistics on Kloof Nek road, the urban transportation directorate said: “From February 1, 2021, to December 26, 2023, there were 365 crashes involving 722 drivers, 40 passengers and three pedestrians. No fatalities were recorded, but three serious injuries and 28 minor.”