LTA to
change traffic light timings at Ferrari crash
junction
SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said
it would synchronise the timings of the traffic lights at an area
where two accidents happened within a span of just two weeks.
The traffic signals at the junction of Rochor Road and Victoria
Street and the pedestrian crossing linking Bugis Junction and Bugis
Village will now turn green at about the same time.
LTA said it was implementing the change, based on suggestions from
the public, describing it as an "added precautionary
measure".
The junction of Rochor Road and Victoria Street was the scene of
two accidents that saw three dead and three injured.
The first accident on May 12 involved a speeding Ferrari, while the
second one on May 26 involved a Lexus. Both cars crashed into
taxis.
Both accidents happened in the wee hours on a Saturday and involved
cars travelling in the same direction.
Some suggested that the straight road and the close proximity
between the sets of traffic lights at two different stretches -
they are about 100m apart - encouraged reckless drivers to speed in
the wee hours, to try and pass the consecutive sets of lights
before they turn red.
Those Channel NewsAsia spoke with, however, said it may be a
problem with the positioning of the traffic lights at the
intersection, which may be confusing to drivers.
Along Victoria Street, the junctions just before and after the
intersection with Rochor Road have overhead traffic lights. Only
the intersection where the accidents took place does not overhead
traffic lights.
"Many drivers think the traffic light is still far away, and don't
realise there's actually an intersection there," said taxi driver
Albert Ho.
Dr Lee Der-Horng, associate professor of civil engineering at the
National University of Singapore, said the timing of the traffic
signals might have been a factor in the accidents.
"One possibility is that at the pedestrian crossing, maybe, the
driver tried to beat the yellow signal. So after he travelled the
50, 60 metres, when he reached the major intersection, the traffic
signal already turned to red," he said. "So it becomes a case where
he beat the red light; therefore, the accident happened."
Dr Lee said that besides the traffic signal timings, overhead
traffic lights would give drivers a better view of the
signal.
"This intersection is actually satisfactory, from the safety's
point of view, from the sight distance," he said.
"The only thing that could possibly improve the safety for this
particular intersection is, we can probably add one more cantilever
type of traffic signal, or the overhead type of traffic signal at
the major intersection."
However, the Land Transport Authority said its planning engineers
found no issues with the existing traffic scheme at the
location.
"Our traffic planning engineers have driven through the junction of
Victoria Street and Rochor Road during the day and in the middle of
the night, to film the line of sight from a driver's perspective,"
LTA said.
"The traffic planning engineers have conducted a careful evaluation
of the traffic signal configuration, and assessed that there are no
issues with the existing traffic scheme at that location."
LTA said the traffic lights at the junction are distinct and can be
clearly seen by the driver, whichever lane they are driving
on.
The Singapore Road Safety Council has said it will consider the
need to tighten specific road safety measures, after police
investigations into the two accidents are completed.
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Dr Lee der-hong and LTA, I really dont know whether they are
aware of the problem.
The root cause of the problem is blatant dis-regard for traffic
signals. "Break 8 traffic lights"; "turned Red for more than 5
seconds".
How does synchronising the timings, if implemented, help to
prevent the 2 recent incidents.
I catch no ball on their problem-solving.
