EDITOR – I voice this observation on this forum as a third resort.
It is blatantly apparent that the traffic light installed at the junction of Emerald Boulevard and Stoneridge Drive (Greenstone Hill) should rather have been a stop street.
When this traffic light is working, which is less than 50 percent of the time, massive traffic queues accumulate, waiting for zero cross-traffic.
When the lights are out of order, traffic flow is smooth (except when unruly drivers fail to stop and follow the vehicle in front of them).
A stop-street junction is considerably more preferable as a traffic-calming mechanism. Nobody speeding to “catch” a changing traffic light.
A time-and-motion study is in order, for either the EMM or Sanral, or whoever the relevant authority is, to make a sensible decision.
I am convinced that the above traffic light is a public nuisance and should be a stop street crossing, to ensure calm traffic and reduced speeding. I expect the same is true with the junction of Hereford and Stoneridge Drive in Greenstone Hill, as well as the junction of Lopis Place and Harris Drive in Sebenza. Hopefully someone will consider this issue as it is frustrating to sit at a traffic light unnecessarily.
GRAHAM,
EDENGLEN.
EDITOR’S COMMENT – The spokesperson for the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), Ms Bertha Peters-Scheepers, commented as follows:
Following a site inspection by a JRA Traffic Engineer, it was confirmed that the resident is correct. The complex has more green time than the main direction at Emerald Boulevard and Stoneridge Drive.
Revised signal designs are currently being developed to make the side road vehicle actuated (the traffic signal is triggered by a sensor which picks up the vehicle on the road), as well as to increase the cycle time, which with the vehicle actuation, will allow even more time for the main direction.
The revised designs will be implemented shortly, and we sincerely thank the residents for bringing this matter to the JRA’s attention. With regards to the junction of Hereford and Stoneridge Drive in Greenstone Hill, we will report back once our engineers have completed their site inspection.
