MBOMBELA – Alleged disfunctional traffic lights created chaos in Bester Street between the police station and KFC on Friday afternoon.
Mpumalanga News learned it started after some motorists refused to follow robot procedures, so that pedestrians could also have right of way.
The situation escalated without the presence of traffic officials, with pedestrians and motorists soon exchanging vulgar language.
Some pedestrians were eventually forced to put their lives at risk, crossing the road pumping with speeding traffic.
One of the frustrated pedestrians, Mr Goodwill Makhabane told this publication they were forced to run in the middle of the road if they wanted to cross, due to selfish drivers that were increasing their speed unnecessarily, not having officers to regulate the drivers.
“We were forced to put our lives at risk by crossing the roads because the drivers were not willing to cooperate with us.
They just ignore us. Time was not on our side as we were rushing to public transport. We couldn’t wait forever due to the traffic volume,” he said.
Speaking to this publication, the spokesperson for Mbombela Local Municipality, Mr Joseph Ngala said,
“Motorists must apply the rules of K53 when the traffic lights are not working. They must use it as a stop and go. However, in most cases we have realised that motorists don’t apply that, which is something that is affecting the pedestrians.
“They can also dial the emergency number 013-753-3331 so that traffic officers can be aware of the situation,” he said.
