The Automobile Association (AA) of South Africa has called on every municipality to publish a list of its broken traffic lights and streetlights

The Automobile Association (AA) of South Africa has called on every municipality to publish a list of its broken traffic lights and streetlights. Each fault should carry a reference number and a repair date. The AA wants the most urgent repairs done before the local government elections on 4 November and the festive season. Transport Month ends this week, but its final days still give government and councils the chance to lead before voters go to the polls: publish the list now and update it weekly.

In July, Kariega businessman Jevon Dyer loaded about five broken traffic lights onto a trailer and offloaded them outside the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s customer care office.* The lights outside his shop in Caledon Street had been out for months, and he said he had seen several accidents and near misses at the intersection. “I thought, why not?