Petition to Change Right-Turn Traffic Rules Receives Over 14,000 Signatures
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An online petition has been created to urge the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to do away with discretionary right turns at traffic junctions. Created four days ago, it has gathered over 14,000 signatures thus far.
Prompted by the two recent fatal road accidents, the petition—titled “Change traffic light rules to prevent further casualties”—calls on LTA to review the current traffic light rules in Singapore. It also requests the board to determine whether it is still safe to keep discretionary right turns, considering the “growth in sizes of junctions” in the country.
The petition wrote, “Roads have been widened significantly in recent years, with new lanes added and as such it is difficult to have field of vision of so many lanes, pedestrians, mobility devices, and fast moving oncoming cars all at once to make an informed and safe judgement.”
The petition highlighted the scenes of the two accidents as examples. They are the Commonwealth Avenue West and Clementi Road junction, and the Upper Bukit Timah and Jalan Anak Bukit junction.
The accidents happened over the course of four days last week. Two passengers were killed when the cars they were travelling in made a discretionary right turn at the respective junctions.
For those unaware, there are some traffic junctions where drivers can use their discretion or judgement to make a right turn on green light. Besides looking out for oncoming traffic, drivers are also required to watch for pedestrians crossing the road.
The petition is close to achieving its 15,000-signature goal. At time of writing, it has received 14,553 signatures.
Peoples' reasoning for signing the petition differ, but their goal is overall the same: to improve safety for all road users.
“Road safety is utmost important. Life is too precious to lose due to sub-optimal traffic rules! One green at a time”, one supporter wrote. Another person wrote that the roads were getting more dangerous and this change is necessary to protect the lives of road users.
What do you think? Should our traffic light rules be changed, or should drivers exercise more patience and wait for the light to be in their favour?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Read more: What Can We Do to Reduce Traffic Accidents and Fatalities in Singapore
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