Among several issues faced by urban communities, traffic jams stand out as paramount. In this essay I will explore on how, malfunctioning traffic lights on the streets has become the reason for this and that, it can only be stopped when correct measures, including frequent checks is done .
Traffic lights have been one of the most helpful invention ever to be given to the road and highway industry. Several types of these devices is found on the road and motorways. It main purpose is to regulate the flow of vehicles and road users and to ensure safety. Unfortunately, these life saving devices have been left without maintenance. When the lights goes off or is not able to function properly, cars and other vehicles cannot decide on who to go first and who should wait, especially when getting close to the city centers. As a result, lot of cars, get packed up at a junction, in a cross road or at the city round about, with everybody trying to navigate their way through. I remember one faithful Monday morning when I wanted to get to work at 8 o’clock . I took off from the house at 6 o’clock am in order to beat the traffic, but to my disappointment, all the drivers in the city center’s round about were trying to go through without allowing their counterpart to pass. The reason is the only two traffic lights on that road was showing the red light without changing. I had to get to work at 9 o’clock later, after I changed my course of direction
This deterring problem can only be booted off the system through proper through periodic checks and maintenance. Traffic regulation department in the country should ensure regular servicing of the devices. Expert workers and engineers can be assigned around the clock to fix faulty traffic lights and ensure those who are pass their service dates have been rechecked. The public can be involved, allowing them to call the department when they see any fault with any of the traffic lights on their road. With this I believe these automated machines can work to their full capacity, ensuring that, there is free flow cars on the road, which will in long term reduce all these traffic jams. Kumasi Municipality highway officials, fixed 50 percent of the traffic lights which were not working on their road. When this was done, it was attested that, traffic on the road, mostly towards their busy areas reduced by a third. This shows how impactful this action will be if applied in all city roads across the country.
Unnecessary delays due to congested highways in the cities has become a big problem, owing to the fact that, most of the traffic lights in the cities faulty and that, through continuously maintaining them and repairing those out of other, I believe we can get our cities free off traffic.