Msunduzi Municipality is asking for patience as the City addresses traffic light repairs.
These have been delayed owing to the extent of the repairs required.
Residents say their commute to work and school is impacted on a daily basis by non-working traffic lights. In particular, the traffic lights at the intersection of Dr Chota Motala Road and Allandale Drive — which have been out of order for months — are causing terrible daily traffic congestion and extended delays on these busy roads.
A frustrated northern areas resident, who did not want to be named, said he is sick to death of the faulty traffic lights at the intersection.
“They haven’t been working for almost a year. The traffic has not changed much, but the drivers do not follow the rules of the road [in the absence of traffic lights]. I have never seen a traffic officer in the vicinity in the past year, ever since the lights haven’t been working,” said the resident.
While the Motala and Allandale intersection is notably bad, residents say the problem is city-wide.
“Travelling through the CBD, you can always expect at least one set not to be working on your route, if not multiple ones,” said Pietermaritzburg resident Jarred Naidoo.
Naidoo added that this leads to extra fuel costs. “Sitting in long traffic queues results in running your engine for longer, which uses more fuel. With the massive increase in the fuel price in the last year, the effect is quite noticeable.”
Another resident who wished not to be named said that the robot has not been working since October 2022.
“The robot has not been working since October 2022. The traffic has been bad, the people in Northdale have adapted to treating the Mysore road intersection as a four way stop street. The traffic this year has has been extremely horrendous as during peak times it is impossible to use this as an intersection. I leave home earlier and still find myself stuck in traffic and getting late for work. There are repercussions to the robots not working. There are no traffic cops to manage the traffic. The councillor of the area plays a role in sorting out the issue but they only make promises they fail to keep,” said the resident.
Msunduzi municipal spokesperson Ntobeko Mkhize said repairs to the broken traffic lights are currently under way and appealed to the public to be patient as the repairs have experienced delays.
“The repairs have started; however, due to the amount of damage, the estimated completion date is [at the end of this week].
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused and appeal for patience during this time,” said Mkhize.
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