Durban South motorists, consider yourselves warned!

An irate Montclair motorist who asked not to be named grows frustrated everyday when she watches with bated breath as other motorists disregard red robots while she is out driving.”On a daily basis there are reports of collisions and deaths but what part of it is caused by the hastiness and lack of consideration of drivers? Motorists think they can read traffic lights before they even turn green and based on that assumption, they put themselves and other motorists as risk. They need to be more cautious on the road because every second counts. You don’t know what the other driver is thinking and cannot predict if there will be a taxi shooting the robot or not,” she said.

Although running a red robot is dangerous and unlawful, some may argue that there is a place for it.

They believe that at certain times, especially at night, going through a red robot could save you from potential hijackers. “I understand at night when the roads are quiet, you may think you can risk it but during the day you are endangering everyone’s lives,” added the motorist.
On a Facebook post highlighting this issue, Katherine Oberholzer commented on how misleading pulling off can be for other drivers:”When I am the second car in a queue of cars at a robot and the car in front of me decides to just drive off and without even thinking I start moving as well, only realising in a split second that the robot isn’t even green and then have to slam on brakes, causing confusion for the rest of the cars. Let me not even get started on how often I see taxis doing it,” she said.

What do the signals mean:

A red signal means stop.

A green signal means you can go, provided it is safe, and if you are turning right, you give way to vehicles coming towards you that are going straight through. You give way to pedestrians crossing. This includes riders of mobility devices and wheeled recreational devices.

A yellow/orange signal indicates the lights will soon turn red and you should stop before the lights unless you are so close to the intersection that you can’t stop safely.

A flashing red signal means the traffic signals are not working. In this case you must apply the ‘give way’ rules for uncontrolled intersections.
If caught running through a red robot you could be fined an amount of R1,500 or more.

Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.

DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
To receive news links via WhatsApp, send an invite to 061 876 3179
The Southlands Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there?

(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)