By Tan Karr Wei

UNSYNCHRONISED traffic lights along Jalan Universiti in Petaling Jaya are the main cause of traffic jams in the area.

During peak hours and even during lunch hours, cars would be lining up all the way from the Jalan Dato Abu Bakar (Jalan 16/1) junction, heading towards Jalan Gasing and the Federal Highway.

Section 17 resident Eugene Morais, 54, said there were too many traffic lights within a short distance and they were not synchronised.

He added that there were also problems on the other end of Jalan Universiti because the frequency of the traffic lights for cars turning right into Section 17 was too short.

"Many inconsiderate motorists create an additional lane for traffic turning right although it is a single lane. This causes disruption to smooth flow of traffic along the stretch and is unfair to other motorists who patiently wait for their turn," he said.

Advertising executive Mabel Yap, 30, who works in Section 16 said that she takes about 20 minutes just to get to the fast-food restaurant along Jalan Universiti because of the backed-up traffic.

Cars parked along the road in front of Universiti Hospital add to the congestion.

A Kajang resident who only wants to be known as M.L. Yap uses the road to go to her friend's house in Petaling Jaya.

"I left my friend's house at 9.15pm one day and there were cars, busses and taxis parked outside the hospital. Even though the lights have turned green, not many cars could go because the traffic was jammed in front of the hospital," she said.

According to Petaling Jaya City Council public relations officer Zainun Zakaria, they had recently changed the timing of the traffic lights after receiving complaints from the public.

However, problems still occurred because there was no link between the traffic lights in front of Universiti Malaya (UM) and the traffic lights in front of Universiti Hospital.

The lights in front of UM has a smart system with a camera that can change its timing based on the road capacity while those in front of the hospital are standard traffic lights.

She added that there are plans to convert the latter to the smart traffic lights system so that the timing could be linked.