AA demands urgent traffic light repairs before elections

The Automobile Association (AA) has issued a clarion call for all South African municipalities to publish a list of every non-functional traffic light under its jurisdiction.

Additionally, the AA demands the most urgent repairs be carried out by the 4 November elections, and that it updates the list weekly.

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Citing a Nelson Mandela Bay resident’s protest against the number of broken traffic lights in his area, and Pietermaritzburg motorists’ nightmare commutes made worse by non-functional robots, the AA said the final days of Transport Month gives councils the chance to lead before voters head to the polls.

“In July, Kariega businessman Jevon Dyer loaded about five broken traffic lights onto a trailer and offloaded them outside the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s customer care office,” said the AA.

A week later, the lights were still lying outside the building and the metro’s political head for roads and transport, Yolisa Pali-Jongilanga, told Council they could no longer justify continuing to ‘feed’ thieves by repairing traffic lights only to have them stripped again.

Meanwhile, in Polokwane, residents reported in July that 21 intersections had broken traffic lights.

Repairs stalled

According to the AA, some municipalities have stopped repairing lights at the worst-hit intersections.

“Ekurhuleni spent roughly R120m on repairs in one financial year before replacing signals at some high-risk intersections with stop signs. The city said some of those stop signs may become permanent,” said the AA.

“In Centurion, the city decommissioned the signals at Botha and Hoffmeyer streets, and downgraded the intersection to a three-way stop.”

“When a traffic light dies, the driver waits. The person on foot takes the gamble,” said AA CEO Bobby Ramagwede.

“Mobility is not transport. It is the freedom to get to work, get your children to school, get home again and change your circumstances.

“Every dead intersection takes some of that freedom away, and it takes it first from the people who walk.”

The AA is asking municipalities to fix routes to schools, polling stations and busy pedestrian corridors first.

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