Why Joburg’s traffic lights don’t work – And Cape Town’s do

Cape Town is piloting a new solution to protect its traffic lights from vandalism, avoiding a pitfall plaguing urban centres such as Johannesburg.

The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Roberto Quintas, recently spoke in an interview on 702, where he explained how the metro is taking proactive measures to protect its road infrastructure and avoid disruptions.

Vandalism countermeasures

Vandalism is one of the most commonly cited reasons for the hundreds of non-functioning traffic lights across South African cities.

In Gauteng alone, it is estimated that 600 intersections do not have working indicators – 400 of which are in Johannesburg.

Quintas explained that Cape Town’s functioning traffic lights are the result of heavy investment – both in the form of capital and operational funding – into its traffic signal network, and that the city council is always looking for ways to upgrade the system.

These solutions are both intended to help improve the flow of traffic and protect the city’s investments from deterioration, theft, vandalism, and damage.

Traffic lights are often seen as an easy target for opportunistic criminals, as they contain valuable copper wiring that can be sold for scrap metal.

To prevent this, the City of Cape Town identified the areas where the lights are most frequently vandalized, after which it began rolling out what is referred to as “submersible chambers.”

These chambers take the core components of the traffic signal into a large concrete base, which is then recessed below the ground.

Unlike regular lights, which are connected to the grid to receive electricity, the lights with submersible chambers run on a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) with lithium-ion batteries.

This means they do not have exposed cables that could be a target for thieves, and it comes with the additional benefit that the lights are independent and unaffected by load-shedding.

According to Quintas, these chambers are designed to be completely tamper-proof and are fitted with alarms capable of sensing vibrations to detect when someone may be trying to dig around the site and pick at the concrete.

If the alarm detects something, an alert is sent out to law enforcement, who will quickly arrive on the scene to arrest the suspects.

The Mayoral Committee Member said that these systems have proved to be a massive success and that many of the city’s “nightmare” intersections are now running smoothly since their installation.

The City of Cape Town said that it is more than happy to share this innovation, and that it receives regular delegations from other metros like the City of Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay who have shown interest in adopting the strategy.