Traffic lights out of order, a risk

BURGERSFORT – Some traffic lights in town have been out of order for more than six months and this poses a danger for motorists and pedestrians.

A number of residents complained to CV that the Greater Tubatse Municipality (GTM) had not addressed this problem.

According to these complainants, they feared that the municipality would only do something about the problem once somebody had died because of the faulty traffic lights.

When CV investigated the matter last Tuesday, three sets of traffic lights in Burgersfort were in working order, while five sets of lights were out of order.

The town of Praktiseer experienced the same problems.

CV also investigated the traffic lights there and found that none of the traffic lights worked and seemed obviously neglected.

The electric boxes on the traffic light poles were open and residents said this posed further dangers like being electrocuted.

GTM spokesperson, Thabiso Mokoena, said the problem would be solved in due course.

“The traffic lights in town were illegally connected by the contractor who installed them and Eskom had to cut off the electricity supply because the connections were ‘bridged’.

“The situation is in Eskom’s hands and we are waiting for them to put meters on the traffic lights.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and the municipality will ensure the problem is remedied,” he said.

Mokoena added the GTM experienced cable theft at the traffic lights in Praktiseer and he urged the public to refrain from stealing these cables.