Motorist sees red over ‘traffic light hostage’ situation
The less effort from the authorities, the more these vandals are going to hold the intersections hostage.
EDITOR – I have reached the point where I cannot continue any longer driving through the intersection of Blamey Road and Old South Coast Road most evenings, casting a blind eye to the situation.
The situation is intolerable with the traffic lights out of commission most days at around 5pm – just in time for the ‘traffic guides’ to arrive to direct the traffic and claim their pocket money from ‘thankful’ motorists.
Motorists do not have to stretch their imagination too far to establish that the traffic lights are being interfered with, as they happen to break at around the same time at around 4.30pm. I know this for a fact as I have driven through the intersection on several occasions at around 3.30pm to 4pm and the lights are working. On my return at around 5pm they are flashing red and the ‘traffic guides’ are out in full attendance. This out of control situation is completely unacceptable and unsafe as this is a major intersection and most evenings and mornings it becomes a free-for-all as motorists and pedestrians alike gamble with their lives to get across. The traffic lights are there for a very important reason and that is to regulate and control the flow of traffic through the intersection. This situation has been allowed to develop where the people that do direct the traffic now hold the area hostage as absolutely nothing is being done to arrest them or look into the matter.
Police vehicles and Metro Police usually drive through the intersection being assisted by the guides – they never stop and apprehend or chase them away. The message being created by our authorities is that it is alright to break the traffic lights and create employment for yourself on a daily basis. I am sure it is a criminal offence to impersonate a police officer and that is exactly what the guys at the intersections are doing. They are not policemen and they have no designated authority to be there directing traffic in the pitch dark and obtaining remuneration from the public.
I want to enquire why the authorities have not driven into the intersection and arrested the guys directing the traffic. There should be a policeman stationed at the intersection to find the perpetrators and they should be arrested and charged when they vandalise and break the traffic lights. It remains a criminal offence to tamper with equipment that regulates and controls traffic flow and I feel that a greater effort needs to be made to bring the situation under control. Traffic lights at all intersections in Old South Coast Road including the major one at Solomon Mahlangu (Edwin Swales) Drive and Old South Coast Road are now also becoming problematic. The less effort from the authorities, the more these vandals are going to hold the intersections hostage.
I write this letter this evening to the press to enquire what the police, the ward councillor and the Metro Police plan to do to bring the situation back under control and ensure permanently functioning traffic lights. Serious action needs to be taken to ensure that we get back to the position where police officers direct traffic and motorists obey a police officer. I appeal to the public to not be ‘thankful’ for these guys who assist when the lights are broken but let’s rather turn our attention to getting to the root of the problem. If the traffic lights work, the guys that break them are driven away and are given no gap to work there. We may even be able to get the situation back to what it should be. Somebody in authority though really needs to make an effort and draw up a plan of action that identifies the problem and resolves it completely.
Could the ward councillor and Metro Police respond to the newspaper and the public with a plan of action on how they propose to get control of the intersection back into the city’s hands and out of the hands of the vandals. It is a matter of extreme importance and urgency and I expect immediate and effective action to be taken.
I trust that in the very near future, we as motorists can expect to get safely through the intersection with all traffic equipment fully functional. There should also be a policy in place to maintain the correct city standard at all intersections in the area, whatever it takes to ensure compliance and that people do not have the right to ‘step in’ and take control whenever they feel like it.
Traffic
ANDREW
