Residents and commuters who use William Nicol Drive have been left stuck in traffic with traffic lights that do not work.
Several intersections on the route often leave motorists frustrated with the intermittent functioning of the traffic lights.
Bertha Peters-Scheepers, operations manager: marketing and communications for the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), said that from 1 June to 4 July, about 19 cases of faulty traffic lights have been reported.
Peters-Scheepers said JRA is responsible for managing 2 035 signals across the City of Johannesburg, comprising over 3,6 million electrical components operating in a particularly harsh environment, on street corners.
“When these components are faulty they affect the operation of the traffic signals and are thus a major cause of traffic congestion. It is therefore not realistic to strive for zero traffic signal faults, so the agency’s strategy is to detect and repair the faulty traffic signals before motorists are affected.”
The agency has implemented a system in which they are able to monitor every street light and the system automatically reports any faults to the JRA Traffic Operations Centre (TOC) as they occur.
“Technicians are dispatched as early as 5.30am in morning to repair faults before peak traffic is affected and continue doing so throughout the day. Standby teams are available after hours and over weekends to continue this repair work”
Reports are also received from the public through various channels.
Traffic Signal faults can be categorised as:
- Electrical component faults, which JRA is committed to fixing 90 per cent of the faults within 24 hours
- Equipment damage, through accidents and vandalism, requiring construction teams so this repair work can take up to three days
- Power outages, which require the intervention of City Power or Eskom, taking anything up to a few weeks to repair and JRA is working closely with both of these utilities to reduce this downtime.
The following three intersections have had several cases reported:
1. William Nicol Drive and Dover Road:
- Seven cases reported during the period 1 June to 4 July. However, two of the reports were false reports. Peters-Scheepers said that power failures contributed to most of the reports. One of the reports was a blown fuse which was replaced after the robot was found to be flashing red.
2. William Nicol Drive and Hobart Road:
- Five faulty lights reported two of which were due to power failures and two that were flashing red.
3. William Nicol and Ballyclare drives:
- Three reported cases of which two were false reported cases where the traffic lights were found to be working.
Details: Johannesburg Roads Agency 011 298 5000.
Have you been stuck in traffic on William Nicol Drive due to faulty lights? Share your stories with us on the Sandton Chronicle Facebook page.
