Serious incident at Paaltjies

DON RENTZKE WRITES:

Yesterday, 11 February 2024, my son, his two stepsons, and myself drove to Paaltjies for recreational fishing.

Once we found the spot to cast, we parked and started our day.

The constant drive-through by tourists was becoming increasingly irritating and dangerous as they were taking the shortcut on the low tide mark (hard sand) to reach wherever they were going.

The noise of the waves made it almost impossible to hear them coming until they were practically on top of you.

We had to keep cool, and the morning was spoiled as this was supposed to be for relaxation and became a dangerous game of keeping the boys on the lookout for oncoming vehicles, as they were driving at speeds exceeding an acceptable speed limit. Far more dangerous than on a Saturday morning shopping in town.

We directed with our arms that they should drive on the top side away from the parked car and not between the car and the shoreline. Our requests were ignored, and the result was that one of the drivers, although shown to slow down, decided to ignore us and drove head-on at my son, who had to jump back and, with the movement, grabbed the side mirror, which broke off, cutting and hurting his hands.

This situation has to be urgently attended to by the authorities who are responsible for implementing the rules and regulations for the local tourist group drivers who drive tourists at the beach, as this is a common occurrence at Paaltjies. Are you waiting for someone to get killed before something is done about it?

For our protection, if this is not resolved, further steps will have to be taken when taking a trip to the fishing grounds.

Thank you.

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