Industry insights
When signals fail: the cost of dark intersections
Source: The Herald · originally published
A signal that is out of order does not only slow traffic: it raises the risk at the busiest conflict points on the network.
What was reported
The Herald reported in July 2026 that hundreds of traffic lights in Nelson Mandela Bay were out of order, with its own count finding almost 200 non-working signals on three streets, some knocked over and others with stolen cables.
What we think matters
- Know what is down. Remote fault reporting shortens the time between failure and response.
- Design out the repeat failures. Placement, mounting and cable protection reduce what can be knocked over or stolen.
- Plan for the outage. Backup power and sensible fail-safe behaviour keep intersections predictable.
Reliability is a system outcome: equipment, installation quality and maintenance all count.
Referenced report: The Herald. This article is TraffiTek’s own commentary; please read the original report for full detail.