WATCH: Load shedding causing chaos on major routes, pointsmen nowhere to be seen
Despite the notable increase in traffic in the area, no officers were seen managing traffic on the gridlocked roads
With the introduction of the latest high-stage load-shedding this week, driving on the city’s major roads during the frequent rolling blackouts has become a massive headache for motorists during peak hours.
The rolling outages remain a perfect recipe for traffic madness at large intersections across the city, resulting in huge delays during peak periods in the morning and afternoon.
Irritated motorists interviewed by the Boksburg Advertiser while driving on Rietfontein Road during the outage yesterday morning vented their growing frustration with getting jammed in traffic for a long time when the traffic lights are not working.
They also bemoaned the absence of traffic officers or pointsmen at traffic hot spots to help ease traffic congestion.
Some motorists were seen resorting to using some of the streets in the surrounding suburbs as back roads to avoid the mess on Rietfontein and North Rand roads.
Despite the notable increase in traffic in the area, no officers were seen managing traffic on the gridlocked roads.
Here’s what motorists had to say about the chaos:
Dimakatso Kgalane: ”Please tell the president that we can’t continue like this because we are going to lose our jobs. We arrive late at work. I just phoned my boss to report that I will be late. We spend an extra about 30 minutes travelling to or from work within this stretch of road alone.”
Kgalane also pointed out that it’s not only about the time loss but also an economic loss due to the longer period motorists spend in traffic.
”Many small businesses are closing down because they can’t afford the costly alternative power sources like generators and solar systems. I used to have my own small business cooking food and because of these power outages, I had to close it,” said Kgalane.
Another motorist described the situation as disgusting, saying it takes him an extra 20 minutes just to drive along the stretch of Rietfontein Road between EG Jansen school and North Rand Road. ”This is absolutely disgusting,” he said.
”Look, the traffic is moving slowly and we are arriving late for the job, so we are losing money,” said another annoyed motorist.
The Advertiser on Monday reached out to the EMPD to find out if there is any initiative to help minimise the effects on traffic flow on the city’s roads due to the rotational power cuts, but no response has been received yet.
Among the questions posed to the metro police are:
• What efforts are being made to mitigate the impact of rolling blackouts on traffic?
• Will your department consider following the load-shedding schedule and plan for the deployment of traffic points men to the known busiest intersections?
• Is the EMPD planning to intensify its traffic management operations by deploying more officers and traffic points men in and around the city during peak hours?
• Is that deployment set to increase as we expect stage 5 load-shedding to remain in place in the coming days?
• It’s been reported that some ordinary citizens routinely take it upon themselves to direct traffic when the power cuts. Is this practice acceptable?
Share your thoughts
Share your experiences with the traffic congestion on the roads during the rolling blackouts in the comments section below.
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