Local motorist Aniel van Tonder warns of a safety risk caused by Mayberry Park’s malfunctioning traffic lights and demands the CoE’s urgent intervention.
This comes after the traffic lights on Potgieter Street coming from JG Strydrom Road have not worked for several months now.
Because the traffic lights do not work, she said motorists use the route as a free-for-all pass.
“On several occasions when I stop at the traffic light, you get taxis that flash their lights and do not stop. They nearly missed my car. A truck also decided not to stop and nearly hit me. You have traffic officers everywhere in Alberton except at this traffic light. They will make a killing in commission by writing fines for people not stopping at that crossing,” Van Tonder said.
With SA notorious for violent road rage incidents, she said authorities must act on this immediately.
“I was involved in an accident a year ago in Swartkoppies in front of the Alberton Fire Station. A driver and his family rear-ended my car by not adhering to the rules of the road and not stopping at the traffic lights that were not working. His family was not even buckled up and the children were flung to the front of the vehicle,” she explained.
Her car was written off and she must still go to court several times to try and get her money from that driver.
“Why do we not have a traffic officer there to ensure motorists do not break the law or get the traffic light fixed? After all, why do we pay taxes? Or are we going to wait till there is a huge accident, more carnage on the road or a road rage incident that happened at this crossing before we do anything about it?” she asked.
Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the roads department was still gathering repair quotes.
“An instruction to perform work will be issued after assessment depending on the cost to repair or the intersection will be turned into an all-way stop control [a countermeasure to help alleviate crash problems at intersections with a pattern of high severity frontal impact crashes – Google]. Only then can we tell how long the project will take,” he said.
He said the old infrastructure or vandalism might have caused the malfunction.
