Joburg launches 24-hour Traffic Hotline

The hotline will allow motorists to report vandalism, accidents, broken down vehicles, areas where traffic lights are not working or areas where traffic is gridlocked.

Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba says countless productive hours have been lost by residents sitting in traffic simply trying to get from one point to another.

"Equally, businesses, particularly small to medium enterprises, have singled out our poor traffic system as one of the city's top challenges inhibiting growth opportunities and business confidence."

Mashaba says the hotline is a dedicated way for motorists to have their traffic-related complaints swiftly attended to by dedicated operators supported by a specialised and highly responsive task team of 640 JMPD officers.

"The city will also be recruiting 1500 additional JMPD officers, made possible through an allocation of R31 million in the city's recent adjustment budget," Mashaba says.

This comes a week after the city launched its No-Join Policy, which will progressively combat challenges associated with traffic signal downtime at key traffic intersections.

Mashaba says the Traffic Hotline will not only assist residents by easing congestion, but will also assist the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) in indicating which traffic signals at key intersections are in need of repairs in line with the No-Join Policy. 

"It will please residents to know that the City is also enhancing the use a Smart Traffic System to remotely monitor traffic signals and ensure that faults are quickly repaired by the JRA." 

The hotline number is 080 872 3342.

Video by Samkelo Maseko