Anyone who drives from Suweileh toward Al Hussein Medical city at night can see it: a fully privatized traffic light! Yes , you no longer need to be “the municipality” to install a traffic light on a main highway. Now, this is not a joke. A car dealership on the Medical City road has decided that the best way to attract the attention of passers by is to install a flashing traffic light in front of their premises.

One might smile at such a gimmick, but such a ploy can be a threat to public safety, especially at night. A speeding driver, say an elderly person with less than perfect vision, can easily mistake this traffic light for a real one and hit the brakes and actually cause an accident.

Advertising on our streets is already distracting enough. Starting to tolerate fake traffic lights and traffic signs is not a good idea.