Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete is concerned about the growing trend of traffic light vandalism in the ward.

This follows the three traffic lights that were cut and cables stripped off at the corner of Dover Street and Main Avenue in Ferndale. Campbell-Cloete explained that traffic light vandalism is a serious and growing issue in Ward 102. However, it also happens all over the city. “In Ward 102, key intersections are targeted, and this is being exacerbated by the lack of street lighting in these areas, making it easy for vandals to cut down traffic signals. The primary driver is, seemingly, opportunistic vandalism. However, these vandals know where the traffic lights are not working, and, within days, the poles are cut down and the cables stolen.”

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She said that there has been absolutely no response from Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) on the issue. “After reporting and escalating inoperative traffic signals, we were informed that the lights have now been switched off completely. That opens up an opportunity for vandals to cut down more traffic signals to enable cable theft.”

Campbell-Cloete advised that there should be a faster turnaround time for fixing broken traffic signals to deter vandalism. Hotspots for vandalism and outages should be flagged to reduce repeat incidents. “Unfortunately, this is not happening. In hotspots, the traffic signals had been reported repeatedly since December with no action taken. Accountability fully rests with the city’s leadership and entities responsible for infrastructure protection and maintenance. There must be consequences for failure to act decisively. Taxpayers cannot be expected to continue to pay for the inaction of entities on these issues.”

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She advised residents to report traffic lights that are not functioning before they are vandalised. “Residents can and should report immediately to JRA via their call centre or the city’s official channels. Residents can also forward traffic signals that are out, to the ward councillor or ward committee.”

@caxtonjoburgnorth WATCH: Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete addresses the growing issue of vandalism of traffic lights. Video: Mthulisi Lwazi Khuboni #Randburg #Ward102 ♬ original sound – Caxton Joburg North

Campbell-Cloete is also concerned about the amount of money the city will spend fixing the lights. She said that, unfortunately, there is no separation of costs for vandalised compared to broken traffic lights within the city. “All repairs are categorised as broken. However, the costs for theses repairs differ drastically. This is also not broken down into ward level costs, which is a big concern. Estimations show that fixing an intersection with non-functioning traffic signals costs around R250 000. However, when the poles are cut down, the cost to replace the cables and the poles are in excess of R1.5m.”

According to her, in the last financial year broken traffic signals cost the city around R66m. “The new figures have not yet been to council, and are not yet available. However, early indications show that the cost has escalated dramatically. These costs could have been prevented if traffic signals had been fixed before being vandalised. That would have saved the city millions of rands.”
Questions were sent to JRA for a comment on March 19. Their response will be published once made available.

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