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Road design influences traffic behaviour?
By Goh Chin Lian and Royston Sim
IT'S a daily sight on Singapore's roads: Drivers switching to the right lane get in the way of those filtering to the left lane, neither one willing to give way first.
Motorists speeding across four lanes to turn right - and making everyone else jam on their brakes. Drivers who simply ignore stop signs and yellow boxes.
Also seen on streets: Pedestrians who dash over to a narrow road divider before risking their lives again to race across the road, even when traffic-light crossings are within walking distance.
To some, the fault lies with these drivers and pedestrians for being impatient and inconsiderate, and for dicing with danger without regard for others' safety. But the design of the road or crossing could influence behaviour and boost safety, traffic engineers told The Straits Times.
More than 100 black spots - zones with more than 15 road accidents in three years - have been identified by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for engineering solutions since 2005. Examples include the junction of Woodlands Avenue 7 and Gambas Avenue, and the interchange between the Seletar and Bukit Timah expressways. They are among the 3,300-plus kilometres of roads managed by the LTA.
And they are also why the Singapore Road Safety Council, as part of a month-long online survey, invited the public last week to report and upload images of road hazards at http://report.ssinus.net/rsc/
By Goh Chin Lian and Royston Sim
IT'S a daily sight on Singapore's roads: Drivers switching to the right lane get in the way of those filtering to the left lane, neither one willing to give way first.
Motorists speeding across four lanes to turn right - and making everyone else jam on their brakes. Drivers who simply ignore stop signs and yellow boxes.
Also seen on streets: Pedestrians who dash over to a narrow road divider before risking their lives again to race across the road, even when traffic-light crossings are within walking distance.
To some, the fault lies with these drivers and pedestrians for being impatient and inconsiderate, and for dicing with danger without regard for others' safety. But the design of the road or crossing could influence behaviour and boost safety, traffic engineers told The Straits Times.
More than 100 black spots - zones with more than 15 road accidents in three years - have been identified by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for engineering solutions since 2005. Examples include the junction of Woodlands Avenue 7 and Gambas Avenue, and the interchange between the Seletar and Bukit Timah expressways. They are among the 3,300-plus kilometres of roads managed by the LTA.
And they are also why the Singapore Road Safety Council, as part of a month-long online survey, invited the public last week to report and upload images of road hazards at http://report.ssinus.net/rsc/
