With a series of tragic road accidents happening recently, it’s safe to say that drivers need to be more careful and alert on the road.
There are enough things to worry about while you’re driving – checking blindspots, signals, speed limits, rogue pedestrians, tiny vehicles etc. Having a clear traffic light system will definitely ease the mental load.
That is why the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is planning to set up more red-amber-green arrows so that there will be fewer road junctions that rely on the driver’s intuition.
Without the clear arrows, the junction is described as having a discretionary right turn.
Discretionary Right Turns
What’s a discretionary right turn?
It is when you’re at a junction with traffic lights and you have the option to turn right or go straight. That means who you have to check whether there’s an oncoming car in the opposite lane that you have to give way to, and you have to make sure no pedestrian is crossing the road.
Since it depends on these two “unpredictable” factors, the driver has to exercise “discretion” and make the turn when they feel it’s right.
That’s why it’s problematic – what happens when the drivers can’t see the oncoming car or the pedestrian?
In fact, it was so problematic that a petition was set up in 2018 to remove or minimise the number of discretionary right turns on the road.
Discretionary Right Turns to be Less Than 15% of All Signalised Junctions
Apparently, in 2019, there was a parliamentary debate about the changes made to the Road Traffic Act. The Act now has harsher penalties for dangerous and careless driving.
As part of their discussion, the MPs brought up the topic of discretionary right turns. The MPs said that it led to many fatal accidents and are “fundamentally problematic”.
Therefore, there was a strong call for LTA to speed up the installation of the Red-Amber-Green (RAG) arrows on road junctions, in hopes of reducing the number of fatal accidents happening.
Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat made a written reply to a parliamentary question by Mr Ang Wei Neng (PAP-West Coast) on 8 May 2024 about discretionary right turns.
In his reply, he mentioned that LTA has “progressively implemented RAG arrows at more than 1,200 traffic junctions” and is planning to add about 200 more junctions, depending on studies on-site.
Mr Chee said that “this will further reduce the proportion of traffic junctions in Singapore that allow motorists to make discretionary right turns to less than 15% of all signalised junctions”.
His response also mentioned the 56 out of 2,700 fatal accidents that happened between 2019 to 2023 involving discretionary right turns.
High Profile Tragic Incident in 2018, Discretionary Right Turns Involved
Included in the 56 was the high-profile case in 2018 which spurred the movement.
On a fateful Thursday evening in Apr 2018, a silver car and a silver taxi collided with each other at the junction of Clementi Road and Commonwealth Avenue West. The taxi was making a discretionary right turn into Clementi Road when it crashed with the silver car that was travelling at high speed.
Unfortunately, an NUS female undergraduate, 19, who was sitting in the back seat of the taxi when it crashed and she nearly flung out. She was severely injured and eventually succumbed to it in the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
She wasn’t the only passenger. There were three other students – one of whom was a 22 year-old male student who was trapped and had to be rescued using hydraulic tools.
You can read more about the accident on Goody Feed here.
Road Safety is a Shared Responsibility
LTA says that road traffic management solutions “can only go so far”.
They urge road users to stay vigilant and exercise patience, on top of the seemingly obvious need to follow the rules.
Anyway, LTA aims to continue to review and make necessary enhancements to our roads to make them safer. It’s time to do our part to do the same.
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