Resetting traffic lights makes it worse

Some months ago I complained about the traffic lights at the intersection of the Priority Bus Route and Fernandes compounds north and south, being set to change after five minutes. This I found to be ridiculous, impractical and unfair to those of us who have to use it to cross the bus route.

With the intervention of the management of Fernandes compound, the authorities concerned reset the lights to change after three and a half minutes and things worked just fine. In December the lights were reset again, and timing the setting this morning, I got ten minutes—ten minutes! Stop what you’re doing right now and look at your watch for five minutes then imagine being in your car for ten minutes waiting at a traffic light.

Where in the world can you find a light that is set to change in ten minutes? Not only is this inconvenient to motorists waiting to cross but also to pedestrians/commuters who get out of maxis and have to cross on foot. Imagine the back-up it causes inside the compounds. The obvious assumption to anyone after waiting three to four minutes is that the light is stuck, so instead of waiting until the sun goes down they have to break the light and cross on red.

This is dangerous and could lead to people being charged for breaking the light—if a police officer or traffic warden happens to be around. Totally senseless situation.

W Dopson,
Woodbrook