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Bluff Rd CALTEX Filling Station

Residents around the Bluff Rd Caltex Filling
Station are angry at the eviromental damage
being caused by container trucks now
refueling at the Caltex in a residential area.
The safety of school children at Malborough
Park Scool is also in danger as container
trucks speed past and ignore the traffic lights
at the pedestrian crossing.
Research is under way with regard to
Licenses and legal matters but residents will
soon be mobilised to protest action.

Watch this space for details and encourage
residents in the area to register wit BET to be
kept informed of the progress on stopping
this environmental degradation.

REGISTER WITH BET NOW

Bluff Enviro Team Press Statement

The Bluff Rd Truck Accident 9
August 2008 and related High
Risk Environmental Safety &
Security matters surrounding
our National Key Points over the
past 12 months

On Saturday morning the Bluff experienced
one of the most horrific accidents
imaginable, caused by a large container
truck that went out of control on Bluff Road.

Bluff residents have warned road
transport authorities
It was a horror accident that many Bluff
residents have warned road transport
authorities would happen given their inability
to control heavy transport vehicles on
inadequate roads in a residential area. BET
considers it a miracle that we only had 1
fatality. Considering the normal volume of
traffic on Bluff Road we could easily have had
50 fatalities. Many people have related
accounts of how narrowly they escaped this
tragedy by seconds or minutes due to
various delays which saved their lives. An eye
witness Patrick, who saw the truck finally
crash through the railway fencing & onto the
railway lines, described the horror of seeing
Elaine Thomas’s vehicle being dragged
under the truck with sparks flying as the
metal scraped across the tarmac. Patrick
was in a taxi with six other occupants who
narrowly escaped collision with the runaway
truck as it crashed in front of them.

Transport authorities have not
heeded the warnings from the
Bluff Community
Unfortunately road transport authorities have
not heeded the calls from the Bluff
Community about the pending dangers that
these heavy transport vehicles pose in a
residential suburb.

For their incompetence we
demand accountability
For their incompetence we demand
accountability, and if necessary officials to be
charged with dereliction of duty, and even
culpable homicide as regards the long saga
of their failure to deal effectively with the
whole trucking issue, poor infrastructure and
inadequate policing.

Now it is time to hold the officials to account
for their actions or lack of action which
caused the fatal road vehicle accident on
Saturday morning 9 August 2008. Bluff
residents and our councilors have warned
authorities on numerous occasions. Our
warnings have fallen on "deaf ears" and
arrogant egotistical attitudes.

It could have been any one of us
We are all aware that Elaine Thomas lost her
life in that horrific manner on Saturday
morning but it could have been any one of us
or one of our loved ones. None of us are
immune to the dangers that our National Key
Points (The Maritime Port, the Airport, the
Refineries, Island View storage facilities)
have created. We have all been in situations
on Bluff roads and Edwin Swales Drive with
heavy transport vehicles that have no respect
for small vehicles, pedestrians, school
children or our environment. The risk is not
limited to the bluff area as we recall a similar
accident and fatality in Botanic Gardens
Road on Sunday the 10th of August 2008.

Enormous revenue is being
generated from our National Key
Points (NKP’s)
transport operations - they cannot afford and
sustainable environment to carry out their
must not neglect their duty to create a safe
sustainable environment to carry out their
business. They need to strive for a "green"
safe, pollution free environment in line with
agreed.
world standards that they have signed and
agreed.

The Bluff Community demands a
clean & safe environment
The Bluff Community demands a clean &
safe environment together with accountability
from our government.

Warning to National Government
In addition to the above BET wishes to issue
a warning to National Government
concerning the state of Safety & Security
surrounding our National Key Points (NKP’s)
in the Durban region.

Thousands of city inhabitants are
being exposed to great risks every
day
Thousands of city inhabitants living around
these NKP’s are being exposed to great
risks every day. Years of bad planning by
local authorities have permitted
development which now totally restricts the
development of these NKP’s and endangers
everyone because Safety & security
measures have become complex issues to
now implement.

Inadequate infrastructure
With inadequate forward planning we now
have inadequate infrastructure to cope with
the demands of the economy on our NKP’s.
With these NKP’s (The Maritime Port, the
Airport, the Refineries, Island View storage
facilities) now located virtually in the heart of
our city it has turned Durban into a High Risk
City. The various modes of transport used by
all these NKP facilities are all extremely
dangerous to our fragile environment if they
are not strictly managed. From our
experience over the last 12 months with
accidents at our NKP’s and transport related
to NKP’s, it has become abundantly clear
that our local authorities are incapable of
dealing with these complex issues of Safety,
Security & Infrastructure.

Extremely dangerous facilities
capable of killing thousands
These National Key Points can all be
regarded as extremely dangerous facilities
capable of killing thousands of people if
safety & security standards are
compromised!

Responsibility of safety and
security
The leaders in our community have a
responsibility to confront the "authorities"
charged with the responsibility of safety and
security. These authorities have to be
accountable to us because our survival
depends on their actions and their ability to
apply the necessary safety, security &
infrastructure to render our NKP’s
environmentally friendly & safe.

Major accidents occurring on a
regular basis
Clearly the history of the past year weighs
heavily against these authorities with major
accidents occurring on a regular basis every
few months. The number fatalities have been
small but we say that even one fatality is one
too many. We have all been very fortunate
because the accidents that have occurred
within the last 12 months have all carried the
potential to have been far worse.

Time to call for National
Government intervention
assume far larger proportions.
assume far larger proportions.

There needs to be a far greater investment by
National Government in infrastructure to
effectively manage the risks associated with
these NKP’s.

Risks of disaster are currently too
high.
When one evaluates the impact that a major
disaster would have on one of these NKP’s
(say one of the refineries or Island View) then
one realizes that the whole of Southern Africa
would suffer. These installations are of
National Importance and the risks of disaster
are currently too high.

Insufficient funds are being
reinvested to create a safe clean
environment.
We call on you to play your part to ensure that
we have every member of our community is
made aware of the RISK Durban inhabitants
are exposed with inadequate infrastructure
around our NKP’s. Whether it is trucks,
roads, fumes, ground & water pollution or a
fire in the refinery we are being exposed to
HIGH RISK. Government and industry are
generating billions of rands in revenue but
insufficient funds are being reinvested in the
things that matter most too all humans – a
safe clean environment.

Current SCENARIO is NOT
SUSTAINABLE
BET says the current SCENARIO is NOT
SUSTAINABLE and we call on all every citizen
to take a stand against this blatant abuse of
our environment. We call on persons
interested in addressing the above issues to
attend a public meeting at the Bluff National
Golf Club at 7pm Thursday 21st August
2008.

We also request that you submit in writing
any incident or complaint you may have
submitted to the authorities on the above
matters that you believe has not been dealt
with to your satisfaction to
complaints@bluffenviro.org

We look forward to your input, participation &
support to ensure that our case is presented
and dealt with in the most professional
manner possible, which in turn, we are
confident, will yield the desired results.

*************************************

Issued by BLUFF ENVIRO TEAM. For any
further information contact Harry Etheridge,
Bluff Enviro Team
M.+27-82-468-5801
B.+27-31-467-1045
F.+27-31-467-5054

www.bluffenviro.org

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