Traffic lights in Juba

Juba is the capital and largest city of the Republic of South Sudan. It also serves as the capital of Central Equatoria, one of the ten states of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and functions as the seat and metropolis of Juba County.

With the increase of vehicles and Boda Boda (Motorcycle used as transportation means in South Sudan) has resulted to increase in number of accidents in the capital City Juba especially among Boda Boda riders.

Above is a photo of a Boda Boda (motorcycle) and its rider carrying passengers (a mother and her daughter)[source: http://williamkituuka.blogspot.com/2010/05/no-body-is-safe-with-commercial-motor.html]

And in a step forward to help organize the movements of motorcycles and vehicles in the town, the Juba City Council have put an effort to install traffic lights on the city’s main roads. This measure came up around mid-October, 2014 for its installation and was actually installed the following month.

Above is how the traffic lights appear after it has been installed. [source: http://eyeradio.org/juba-city-council-launches-traffic-light-capital/]

Its colors are actually matching the international standard (Red, Yellow and Green). As you may know that there is no reliable power source in South Sudan, these are solar-powered traffic lights which are powered with solar system and batteries. They have been planned to work for 24 hours although initially they were programmed to go off around 9:00 pm and start at 7:00 am.

I think that those traffic lights have now a great impact on reduction of traffic accidents within Juba town. We are no longer unnecessarily stopped by traffic police. The movements are well-organized though it took a little while for 75% of the citizens to get used to and follow the traffic lights right after it was introduced.

To guarantee the safety of those traffic lights, some officers from police and the City Council alike were trained to regularly check those lights and make sure that they are working well. Also buffer zones have been constructed to protect the traffic lights. Whoever knocks them down due to over-speeding or reckless driving, they will be charged with all the costs of buying, transporting and labour for installation of the traffic lights again.    

Emmanuel Kenneth Duku
Administration Officer – JEN South Sudan



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