A public outcry rages against advertising and information pollution in town and on the N1.

The sign boards and concrete dustbins with advertisements look haphazard and distract attention to the point of being a safety hazard and do not seem to conform to standards, consistency or even ethics, are some of the complaints.

Residents and businesspeople feel that Council should take full responsibility and stop referring all enquiries to the Directosign/Combo Sign company.

“The new concrete dustbins, serving as street names as well as advertising boards, have become another finger pointing at the complete disregard the Municipality has for its citizens: how can they justify the fact that one of these advertising dustbins was placed right next to a municipal dustbin between Krogh and Burger Streets, right in front of a fast food outlet, with its opposition’s advertisement on it. Is there no such thing as ethics where the municipality is concerned?” asked concerned citizen Lizet Joubert.

The manager of Nando’s in Krogh Street, Mr Johnny Boshoff, said that he felt it was very unethical of the municipality to put up the advert of a business competitor right in front of his business. Mr Boshoff felt that complaining to the municipality would not help.

“They don’t even empty the dustbins behind my shop or those standing across the street. I don’t have time to phone all the time,” this businessman said.

An example of extremely distracting boards is on the corner of Rissik and Kruger Street. The stop sign fades into oblivion in comparison to all the bright boards competing for the attention of drivers.

“In the past, you could win a court case in an accident where you could prove that something on the stop sign, for example a bullet hole, distracted you,” one resident said.

Even more dangerous are the billboards on the N1 intersections.

“We are aware of the three intersections on the N1 – each of which has had numerous fatal and less serious accidents. All these intersections have all the warning signs, stop signs and yield signs to draw the motorist’s attention to the potential danger. How can a responsible municipality justify the distracting new billboards that were placed between the danger road signs? Some boards are even on the wrong side of the road, which multiplies their distracting effect. Does this conform with the provincial roads Act No 7 of 1998?” asks Ms Joubert.

“Do these boards all conform to standards?” asks local signage businessman, Mr Charles Leach. The board on the corner of Songozwi and Kruger Street was measured at a height of 1.74m and a tall person would be in danger of splitting his head open.

“Why are there inconsistencies? Since when is an information board pointing to the library on a white background?” asks Mr Leach.

This sounds like a local signage company who is upset because it was ignored when the municipality gave Combosigns/Directosign the five year contract, right?

Completely wrong. Leach Printers was approached by Combosigns on February 3 to negotiate a way of involving Leach Printers in the whole advertising project.

They declined for the time being.

“Firstly, we said that there is no way of their just talking to us. We want all of the other signage companies in town with us in the meeting. Secondly, we said that, as things are at the moment, we don’t want any part of it. Not until quality standards, safety standards and ethical standards and consistency are conformed to. Thirdly, we said we wanted the municipality in the meeting with all of the signage companies and Combosigns. Some things seem just too shady at the moment,” Mr Leach said.

Another thing that bothers residents is the use of strange street names that do not exist, like Hoërskool Street, Thohoyandou Street and Sibasa Street.

The concrete bins, which should have their 90º corner in the street corner, are often turned incorrectly so that the street names face the wrong way. At the corner of Songozwi and Burger Street, the driver or pedestrian going north/south in Songozwi finds the name “Songozwi” pointing east/west as well. The same happens at the corner of Krogh and Joubert Street. No one nowadays knows whether to look for a street name at the bottom of the street, in the middle (Combo utility units) or on top of a pole. It is confusing to a stranger in town when he notices that one street goes in two different directions.

This week the spokesperson for the local municipality was not available for comment.