On Tuesday, you read about the traffic light repairs that are needed in the city.

For Selma City Councilwoman Jannie Thomas, the issue has been one at the forefront of her mind for the last several years and little has been done to address the problem despite her success in acquiring 10 traffic light switch boxes to be used across Selma.

“We need these boxes up,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to find a way to help move forward.”

According to Thomas, the switch boxes currently in place are relics of the 1950s and 1960s that require constant repair.

“It’s come to the point where repairing them isn’t working anymore,” Thomas said. “They keep patching them up and they keep going out.”

Thomas said the real issue for the city is the traffic lights in residential areas, since state highways, like those that run along Broad Street and Highland Avenue, are maintained with state funds.

The public is also feeling the backlash of malfunctioned traffic lights.

JoAnna Smitherman said the lights at the intersection of Furniss and Church and Furniss and Lauderdale have been out for “at least a month.”

“I travel that way to and from work and people do not treat them as a 4-way stop,” she said. “I witness people flying through them every single day. There is a major safety concern here and yet nobody seems to be doing anything to get these new lights up and running.”

This is a serious safety concern however because the new boxes are computer operated, it will likely require expertise currently lacking in the city’s Public Works Department, which has only two employees, as well as the installation of new power poles and other accessories.

“Some people have had accidents,” Thomas said. “Public safety has got to be our number one issue. It’s time for us to put new boxes in – some places need new traffic lights, but we’ve got to get the lights working first.”

The safety of our citizens while on the road and crossing streets depends on the installation of the new traffic lights.

They must be set up immediately to keep all of us safe.