This according to Ward 102 councillor David Potter, who said motorists are put at risk when driving during load shedding as the City of Johannesburg is failing to put the tape on traffic light signal poles.
“This tape is to warn motorists driving in total darkness of intersections ahead,” he explained.
Also read JRA upgrades traffic signals at dangerous intersection in Sandton
Potter said the Johannesburg Roads Agency had informed him in 2013 that there had been problems acquiring the tape and that the agency had to investigate an alternative to the tape as pedestrians were removing and vandalising it.
“Nearly two years after bringing this to the attention of the roads agency, the taping of newly-installed poles has not taken place and many poles remain untaped,” said Potter.
Bertha Peters-Scheepers, spokesperson for the roads agency said, “Currently some 60 percent of the City’s intersections have been installed with reflective tape. A new procurement contract for reflective tape has just been awarded by the roads agency, and the remaining traffic signals, as well as those vandalised by criminals ripping off the reflective tape from traffic poles, are monitored and replaced.”
She explained that priority is given to outlying areas with minimal street lighting and little or no ambient lighting to ensure the safety of road users.
Potter said the programme to put up reflective tape was started in 2010. “The motion was for measures to be taken to warn motorists of traffic signal intersections during load shedding and other power outages,” he explained. “According to this motion, which was approved by the council in October 2010, the marking programme had to be completed by the end of June 2012, which was the end of that financial year.”
However, Peters-Scheepers said the taping programme was an ongoing process.
Tweet @Sandton_News the street names of where you have experienced difficulty seeing traffic light poles while driving in the Sandton area during load shedding #HelpIcantsee
