Driver held following hit-and-run crash that killed child

 

A man is in police custody following a fatal hit-and-run incident on Monday along the Ferry Service Road which runs parallel to the Mandela Highway. 

 

A child was killed in the crash. 

 

The police later obtained the licence plate of the vehicle involved, which led to the arrest of the driver. 

 

Residents blocked a section of the roadway following the incident, but the fire brigade was called to remove the debris. 

 

Commander of the Ferry subdivision of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB), Deputy Superintendent Earl Grant, said the residents are concerned about speeding along the thoroughfare.

 

"There are signs erected along the roadway. We have a school zone, which is the Hydel High School, companies, commercial district, residents along this corridor, and drivers still speed. This has come to our attention and on a daily basis we try to stage a vehicular check point where we check for vehicles speeding along the motorway. Though motorists have been prosecuted in many cases, they continue the practice," he lamented. 

 

DSP Grant said PSTEB is in dialogue with the National Works Agency (NWA) to have speed bumps erected along the roadway, and are conducting a feasibility study for the proposal.

 

He has appealed to motorists to reduce their speed along the Ferry Service Road.

 

"I would encourage motorists using this motorway, the service road to the left of Mandela, passing the Ferry Police Station, the commercial district, the Hydel school, to slow down, adhere to the speed limit which is 50 kilometres. And I am speaking directly to buses, taxi operators who ply this route as also other motorists going towards the commercial district. Please slow down. This will save lives."