MOSSEL BAY NEWS - A resident of Dana Bay, who ran over a dog while travelling from Dana Bay to Mossel Bay, has warned motorists to be cautious on Louis Fourie Road, on the section between Dana Bay and Heiderand.
The neighbourhoods of Asla Park, Highway Park and KwaNonqaba are alongside the road.
The woman, who prefers not to give her name, said the incident occurred on Saturday, 3 June, at about midday.
The dog ran in front of her car from the right side, the Heiderand side, of the road.
She was driving alongside Mountain View housing development, near the intersection of Grunter and Louis Fourie roads when she hit the dog.
"The dog was under my car. Then I drove off the road and the dog was in the middle of the road."
'Cars barely slowed down'
The woman complains that cars barely slowed down despite the dog being in the middle of the road. A bystander called the SPCA and an SPCA staffer came in a bakkie and took the dog.
"The SPCA knows how to pick up an injured animal so that it does not bite. It was a terribly thin dog," she said.
She went to the SPCA at a later stage to check on the dog. Unfortunately, it had to be euthanised because of multiple fractures. "Its legs were broken. It could not walk. It was tragic."
The woman noted: "The fencing at Mountain View is broken at the place where there is a children's playground with seesaws. I reported the broken fence to the municipality."
The woman said the fence needed to be repaired urgently because children from the playground could run into the road and be tramped by cars.
"There is a large hole, cut from top to bottom. People have taken the ground away under the fence; it's flattened."
Fence maintenance
Municipality spokesperson Cornelle Carstens noted that the contractor of the Mountain View development was responsible for the fence maintenance.
Carstens said: "The contractor indicated it would repair and replace parts of the fence where necessary."
A spokesperson for Ruwacon, the contractor, said this week: "We are busy repairing the fence. There are parts that are so damaged that panels need to be replaced. The material has been ordered and we are hoping to complete the repairs within two weeks."
The woman who ran over the dog emphasised: "Cars drive too fast on Louis Fourie Road." The speed limit is 80km per hour.
She pointed out that a child was fatally injured on the road near the Asla Park taxi rank.
The six-year-old boy was hit by a bakkie on 17 October 2020 and died at the scene. The boy was running across the road to join his friends on the other side when he was run over.
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