Yesterday, seemingly out of nowhere, load shedding came back with a vengeance.

As we well know, of course, we’re never that far away from having the lights go off, and load shedding is expected to continue for the rest of the week.

Rugby fans will need to pay close attention to the schedule, because heaven forbid it strikes whilst the World Cup quarter-finals are on. If you want to see people in khaki protest on the streets, this is as close as you’ll come.

Anyway, another severe downside to load shedding is the nightmare traffic delays it contributes towards, reports Business Insider SA:

Traffic in parts of Cape Town and Johannesburg was brought to a standstill due to load shedding on Wednesday, and there is no relief in sight for the rest of the week…

City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for transport Felicity Purchase said intersections that become four-way stops without electricity are “significantly less efficient than the flow achievable via a signal.

She was unable to say by how much motorists had been delayed by load shedding, on Wednesday but said the city saw an increase in traffic.

“Delays would, however, be inevitable wherever traffic signals are rendered non-functional due to power cuts.”

She said at key intersections the city installed battery backups to try and keep signals operational.

Nothing like a combination of four-way stops, heat, traffic, and relying on other people to use their common sense to bring out the road rage.

Business Insider SA took this Google Maps screenshot, showing Cape Town traffic situation yesterday afternoon:

Far too much red on show.

Up in Jozi, things also took a turn south:

Johannesburg Metro Police (JMPD) Senior Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said load shedding had heavily affected traffic in Johannesburg for most of Wednesday.

He said the JMPD is due to get an additional 1,000 officers by December, which will help to relieve traffic congestion during load shedding.

If you were looking for an excuse to get out of work early tomorrow (always a nice touch on a Friday), you may want to mention the impending traffic nightmare.

Also, if you care, “Eskom regrets and sincerely apologises to our customers and South Africans”, says Acting Group chief executive officer, Jabu Mabuza.

Too late.

A friendly heads up to download EskomSePush, so you can plan for the load shedding accordingly.

[source:businsider]