Netizens have claimed that, as a result, there have been countless near misses at the junction of Victoria Street and Rochor Road.
Just two Saturdays ago, three people were killed after a Ferrari driver allegedly ignored a red light there before crashing into a taxi.
The Ferrari driver, Mr Ma Chi, 31, a Chinese national, died at the scene.
The taxi driver, Mr Cheng Teck Hock, 52, and his Japanese passenger, Ms Shigemi Ito, 41, died in hospital.
The situation is worse on Fridays and Saturdays, netizens said, as revellers leave watering holes at places like Boat Quay and Orchard Road and head down Victoria Street towards Kallang.
Two weeks after the accident, The New Paper waited at the same junction from 1am to 4am on Saturday. How bad was it?
Despite the accident, some motorists still blatantly beat the red lights at the junction.
Three cars, two taxis and a motorcycle ran the light when TNP was at the junction.
The first offender, a motorcyclist, was spotted at 1.30am.
He rode down Victoria Street and turned left into Rochor Road even though the light had turned red.
Traffic at the junction became less heavy soon after.
But between 3am and 4am, as clubbers left from a night of partying, the roads became crowded again with cars revving their engines.
Most of the vehicles were travelling from the city down Victoria Street towards Kallang.
A dark-coloured car beat the red light at 3am about five seconds after it changed from green.
About 15 minutes later, another car and a taxi were seen doing the same.
A light-coloured car, this time travelling from the East Coast Parkway down Rochor Road, beat the red light soon after at 3.25am.
About five minutes after this, another taxi travelling down Victoria Street was spotted doing likewise as it turned into Rochor Road.
No camera
The junction isn't fitted with a red-light camera.
The offence of jumping a red light carries a six- month jail term.
But first offenders are usually fined up to $1,000 and given 12 demerit points. Any motorist who accumulates 24 or more demerit points within two years will be barred from driving for a year.
Motorists whom TNP spoke to said that another accident at the junction is imminent if fellow road users continue beating the red light there.
One motorist, Mr Trevor Chan, 36, who works in the sales line, said: "Maybe it's time that the authorities install a red-light camera at the junction. Only then would motorists stop breaking the law there."
A primary school teacher, who declined to be named, felt the same way.
"This is the only way to stop these irresponsible motorists from breaking the law," she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment