Road Safety Department’s director-general Datuk Suret Singh in The Star, on the 29th December 2007 warned expressway users to refrain from stopping their vehicles at emergency lanes, to rest or carry out repair works, as it is a traffic lane for use by authorities such as the Fire and Rescue Department, the police and ambulance.
In reality the above mentioned authorities rarely get to use the emergency lane while responding to an emergency, during rush hours or in cases of road accidents.
Immediately after a road traffic accident, vehicles involved in the incident would usually block the lanes, causing traffic congestion. Within minutes traffic flow is further worsen with the arrival of many tow truck operators, flocking the accident scene and not forgetting the on-lookers on both sides of the road, slowing down to peek.
Impatient road users would then begin to misuse the emergency lane, trying to cut queue. This aggravates the bottle neck situation. The emergency lane, which should be clear and available for emergency vehicles to reach the accident site, would be clogged by irresponsible road users.
This is one main reason why, response time to the scene of an accident by the fire engine, police or ambulance is delayed. With the emergency lane clogged and not passable, emergency vehicles are forced to crawl in between lanes.
Among the road users we have the educated and alert drivers who would immediately react by moving further left or right to make way for the emergency vehicle, while the less informed and ignorant drivers, do not know how to react when an emergency vehicle approaches from the rear with its lights and sirens blaring. The most annoying road users, are the irresponsible and self-centered drivers who would disregard their own safety and the safety of others, by tailgating the emergency vehicle at a very close distance to beat the traffic jam, sometimes causing a rear end collusion.
The question is, how much is done to educate and continuously educate new and current road on this issue and at the same time enforce the law on offenders.
There are frequent emergency lane offenders who would use the emergency lane as their right of way. Just observe the Jalan Templer flyover in Petaling Jaya and the Berkeley flyover in Klang, along the federal highway during the evening rush hour when there are no traffic policemen on duty.
The random survey conducted by Road Safety Department, Datuk Suret Singh said showed that between 90% and 95% of road users did not understand the “role of emergency lanes” or were of the opinion that it was all right to use the lanes if their vehicles broke down. I remember, that when I attended the compulsory driving license course and the on-the-road driving lessons back in 1995, nothing was mentioned about the actual use of the emergency lanes or how to react to an emergency vehicle for the matter.
Driving school syllabus should be reviewed and emphasis added on these areas. Continuous promotion via educational advertisements on all TV stations and aggressive enforcement operations on emergency lane offenders, similar to other road traffic enforcement operation should be initiated, to educate our road users on the seriousness of this offence.
In reality the above mentioned authorities rarely get to use the emergency lane while responding to an emergency, during rush hours or in cases of road accidents.
Immediately after a road traffic accident, vehicles involved in the incident would usually block the lanes, causing traffic congestion. Within minutes traffic flow is further worsen with the arrival of many tow truck operators, flocking the accident scene and not forgetting the on-lookers on both sides of the road, slowing down to peek.
Impatient road users would then begin to misuse the emergency lane, trying to cut queue. This aggravates the bottle neck situation. The emergency lane, which should be clear and available for emergency vehicles to reach the accident site, would be clogged by irresponsible road users.
This is one main reason why, response time to the scene of an accident by the fire engine, police or ambulance is delayed. With the emergency lane clogged and not passable, emergency vehicles are forced to crawl in between lanes.
Among the road users we have the educated and alert drivers who would immediately react by moving further left or right to make way for the emergency vehicle, while the less informed and ignorant drivers, do not know how to react when an emergency vehicle approaches from the rear with its lights and sirens blaring. The most annoying road users, are the irresponsible and self-centered drivers who would disregard their own safety and the safety of others, by tailgating the emergency vehicle at a very close distance to beat the traffic jam, sometimes causing a rear end collusion.
The question is, how much is done to educate and continuously educate new and current road on this issue and at the same time enforce the law on offenders.
There are frequent emergency lane offenders who would use the emergency lane as their right of way. Just observe the Jalan Templer flyover in Petaling Jaya and the Berkeley flyover in Klang, along the federal highway during the evening rush hour when there are no traffic policemen on duty.
The random survey conducted by Road Safety Department, Datuk Suret Singh said showed that between 90% and 95% of road users did not understand the “role of emergency lanes” or were of the opinion that it was all right to use the lanes if their vehicles broke down. I remember, that when I attended the compulsory driving license course and the on-the-road driving lessons back in 1995, nothing was mentioned about the actual use of the emergency lanes or how to react to an emergency vehicle for the matter.
Driving school syllabus should be reviewed and emphasis added on these areas. Continuous promotion via educational advertisements on all TV stations and aggressive enforcement operations on emergency lane offenders, similar to other road traffic enforcement operation should be initiated, to educate our road users on the seriousness of this offence.
No comments:
Post a Comment