LTA to Install Right Turn on Green Arrows at Most Traffic Junctions

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Good news motorists! The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be installing red-amber-green (RAG) right turn arrows at most traffic junctions over the next five years.

The news was announced by LTA on Thursday, 26 April. According to its statement, a programme will be introduced to add RAG arrows to Singapore’s 1,600 road junctions.

This means “discretionary” right turns will be prohibited, and motorists will have to wait for the arrow to turn green before making a turn. To date, RAG arrows are only in operation at 200 junctions.

“Where it is not feasible to implement RAG arrows, LTA will look into other features, such as turning pockets, lighted road studs, integrated pedestrian countdown timers, dashed pedestrian crossing lines and ‘Give Way to Pedestrian’ signs, to ensure safety and smooth traffic flow,” LTA added.

(Photo Credit: Straits Times)

This announcement came at the wake of two fatal road accidents that happened last week. In both incidents, vehicle collision occurred due to discretionary right turns, causing two deaths.

These accidents also prompted an online petition. Started five days ago, the petition has gathered over 16,000 signatures.

Although new safety measures will be in place to enhance road safety, the authority has urged motorists and pedestrians to play their part by “exercising good road safety practices”.

“For motorists, these include slowing down at junctions, signalling and paying attention to road situations,” said LTA. “Road users must observe traffic rules at all times and exercise patience and care to ensure their own safety as well as that of others.”

Since the beginning of this year, the Traffic Police (TP) has seen a rise in road traffic fatalities and fatal accidents. According to Yahoo News, the TP has recorded 36 fatal accidents and 38 deaths, an increase of three fatal accidents and four deaths from last year within the same period.

As highlighted in our previous article, the main causes of fatal accidents were failing to keep a proper lookout and failing to have proper control of the vehicle.

With this added programme by LTA, we hope this will help reduce fatal accidents and deaths in Singapore. Motorists, however, should still exercise caution and patience when driving on the road.

What are your thoughts on this new programme by LTA? Let us know in the comments below.

Read more: Petition to Change Right-Turn Traffic Rules Receives Over 14,000 Signatures

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