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.
- CNA/wm
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.
- CNA/wm
