Fourways traffic light failures spark road safety fears
Persistent intersection breakdowns leave drivers stranded on key arterial routes as calls grow for traffic pointsmen and strict enforcement.
Broken traffic lights on Cedar Road and Winnie Mandela Drive are driving motorists to reckless behaviour as repeated repairs fail to hold, warns Ward 94 councillor David Foley.
Foley has called on the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport to provide an account of repairs carried out at affected intersections, after reports that traffic lights stop working again just days after being fixed.
He said the situation was not improving despite previous reports and requests for intervention.
“We don’t seem to be making progress with the repairs effectively. A repair is done, and two days later it is not functioning again.”
He requested a report detailing what had been repaired and how the work had been carried out.
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“We cannot continue like this; residents are fed up and the drivers are misbehaving and driving dangerously on the roads because of this.”
He warned that the delays and unmanaged intersections could trigger road-rage incidents.
Foley also appealed to police officials to increase police visibility along Winnie Mandela Drive and Cedar Road to address dangerous driving.
He further called for stricter enforcement, including vehicle impoundments, describing this as crucial to changing driver behaviour.
The councillor also requested that the province deploy traffic pointsmen at intersections where traffic lights remain out of order, particularly along the two busy roads.
Intersections identified
The concerns follow an earlier report by Foley to the department on October 1, after a storm left several traffic lights along Cedar Road and Winnie Mandela Drive not working.
At the time, he identified five key intersections requiring urgent attention: Cedar Road and Fourways Boulevard, Cedar Road and Uranium Street, Winnie Mandela Drive and Robert Bruce Road, Winnie Mandela Drive and Uranium Street, and Winnie Mandela Drive and Fourways Boulevard.
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On October 15, Foley escalated the matter, reporting additional traffic light failures along Cedar Road, Main Road and the R55.
His list included 16 intersections, among them Allandale Road and Maple Drive, the R55 and Kyalami Boulevard, Main Road and Cedar Road, Cedar Road and Witkoppen Road, and Winnie Mandela Drive and White Hills Boulevard.
Fourways Review sent questions to the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport and the relevant authorities regarding the recurring faults, repair work, deployment of pointsmen and plans to address the situation.
No response had been received at the time of publication.
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