CAPE TIMES (Cape Town, S Africa) 03 February 05 Slowly, slowly came signs to save tortoises (Melanie Gosling)
Nature lovers from L'Agulhas were distressed about the high number of tortoises squashed by motorists.
The Suidpunt Environment Alliance thought it would be a good idea to erect road signs showing a red triangle with a tortoise in the centre, similar to those warning motorists of antelope or cattle on the roads.
But it wasn't so easy, as Pierre Massyn of the alliance found out.
"We've had a six-year battle with the provincial road authorities," he said.
They weren't allowed to put signs up as they were not on the list of approved road safety signs. Nor could they apply to get them included, because tortoises, unlike cattle and antelope, did not present a danger to vehicles.
"So we watched the slaughter continue," he said.
Three years ago, Massyn took the law into his own hands, made tortoise signboards and put them up. The Overberg Municipality took them down.
In December, Massyn approached Transport Minister Jeff Radebe. This week he got a reply from the department which had found a way around the problem: "A combination of a General Warning Sign and a text message with the words 'tortoise crossing' would warn road users of tortoises in the road ahead", the transport department said in a letter to Massyn.
And one of the road signs Massyn made three years ago has found a good home. It's been erected in the South African National Parks' Agulhas National Park.
Slowly, slowly came signs to save tortoises