Motorist warns drivers to be careful at amber lights

A resident, who encountered a near-accident recently, shared a warning with South African drivers. Bernadette Ryan Williams described that she was travelling with very special cargo along Tyrwhitt Avenue.

“The traffic light was green as I was approaching Jan Smuts Avenue. I proceeded across Jan Smuts. A large white SUV with a Mpumalanga number plate (noticed by my daughter) had skipped the traffic light crossing the intersection.

I am grateful that I was alert at that precise time and that my reflexes were quick. The SUV could have rammed my door, which could have had devastating consequences. The speed they were travelling was dangerous.”

Williams said she presumed that the driver was quite a distance from the traffic light, saw the amber and put their foot on the accelerator.

“They shot through long after the lights had turned red. Had I not been alert and had quick reflexes you might have been sitting in jail on a homicide charge and I could have been in a morgue. My beautiful daughter and passengers might have also been compromised. Rules of the road exist for a reason. It isn’t clever to violate them.”

Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson Officer Xolani Fihla said an amber traffic light usually means stop, unless it is unsafe to do so. “If you’re too close to the intersection line at the time the light turns amber, you may be [permitted] to cross, and braking sharply could lead to an accident,” he said.

He added that technically, it is legal to go through an amber light, but ideally you shouldn’t do this unless you have to.

“Generally, we have been seeing motorists who, when the traffic lights turn amber, accelerate to try and make it through the intersection before the traffic lights turn red. This is dangerous, because at most times by the time they cross the intersection the light has already turned red, which means they have to completely stop and allow vehicles coming from the cross traffic to proceed, so failing to stop can lead to an accident.”

Fihla said it is advisable that while a motorist waits at the intersection for the traffic lights to turn green, rather be 100% certain that the vehicle coming from the cross traffic is either going to stop or proceed before you proceed when the traffic light allows you to do so.

“Watch for cross traffic. Just because the light turned green for you doesn’t mean there isn’t somebody running a red light,” he warned.

Filler: Share your local community stories by email to naidines@caxton.co.za

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