Awareness campaign follows biker’s death
Ward councillor Carolynne Franklin says she will be calling for more biker-awareness programmes in schools next year, following the death, last month, of a motorcyclist near Zwaanswyk High School.
Gavin Duncan, 52, from Ottery, was travelling on Main Road, Bergvliet, north towards Cape Town, on Thursday morning November 18, when he was hit by a champagne-coloured VW Polo (“Fatal crash near Zwaanswyk High,” Bulletin, November 18).
Police are investigating a case of culpable homicide, but no arrests have been made, according to Kirstenhof police spokeswoman Sergeant Deidre Solomon.
On Thursday November 25, a mass memorial ride took place from Sunrise Circle, in Muizenberg, to honour Mr Duncan. Among the riders were Cape Town Breakfast Runs and the owners of Wrench Monkey CPT, Gavin and William Rossouw.
“It seems that we have been doing way too many of these very sad events. It is urgent that we continue creating awareness on our roads, both for bikers and all other road users,” said William Rossouw.
The following day, Mr Rossouw; ward councillors Kevin Southgate and Carolynne Franklin (whose wards intersect where Mr Duncan died); deputy mayor Eddie Andrews; Gavin Duncan’s brother, Grant; and Grant’s wife, Elizabeth, attended a meeting at Zwaanswyk High School to discuss Gavin’s death.
They met again online, on Friday December 11, to organise a Biker Awareness Campaign event in Tokai to educate road users, and they are urging community leaders, schools, teachers, pupils and parents to join them.
Mr Andrews said traffic management at the crash site would need to be reassessed.
Ms Franklin said: “With the volume of traffic on our roads increasing in the run-up to the festive season, I ask that we take a second to double-check our side and rear-view mirrors.”
She hoped that by increasing biker-awareness in schools, pupils would take the message home to their parents.
Find the Biker Awareness Campaign on Facebook for more information.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Allan Okkers at 021 702 8900.
