Call to erect barrier walls along N2 to prevent attacks on Cape Town motorists

Cape Town Safety and Security MMC JP Smith is calling for the erection of barrier walls along the N2 to prevent attacks on motorists.

Smith was speaking at the launch of the N2 safety deployment near Borcherds Quarry near Nyanga.

This is where a couple was attacked in July after a concrete block was flung at their car.

READ: Security heightened on Cape Town's N2 highway following attacks on motorists

A woman passenger was injured when glass shards hit her face.

The city has tightened security on this section of the highway by deploying 44 new police and traffic officers.

Smith said this will help increase the frequency and presence of officers.

"We are putting pressure on our partners in the provincial government and on SANRAL for the barrier fences. This solution needs to come both from an operational side, boots on the ground, but also from an engineering side. That means reinstating the barrier walls on the road reserves, human beings are not supposed to be in that road reserve, it's an offence for any person to be in the road reserve on a freeway and we must reinstate the effective control of those spaces if we are to reduce the attacks and pedestrian fatalities."

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has also called on SANRAL to ensure that its cameras on the freeways are functional at all times to help accelerate the police's response time to stranded motorists.

"We have had a lot of issues with SANRAL's cameras on this road not picking up when people are in trouble. Because when those cameras pick up that someone is in trouble, they immediately dispatch our vehicles, and within minutes, I can guarantee that one of our officers will be there to help."