New Safety Roads at Whampoa

First-of-its-kind road safety feature launches at Silver Zone Whampoa

Water tank truck driving along the dual 1-lane road while watering the centre dividers while vehicles behind wait. (PHOTO: VIVIAN ONG)

New Silver Zone road safety features were launched in early May at Whampoa Drive for the elderly residents to encourage motorists to slow down.

Land Transport Authority (LTA) has introduced the Silver Zone Programme to Whampoa to accommodate and enhance road safety for the elderly population, which forms about one-fifth of the Whampoa estate. LTA launched new features such as centre dividers and fences along the roads. The first-of-its-kind in Singapore, Three-Dimensional traffic markings were introduced to make the stretch of road narrower than it seems.

After the fatal accident that took the life of an 82-year-old woman, several new measures were put in place at Marine Parade. Residents told Channel News Asia (CNA) that motorists were seen to be driving recklessly and hence the call for more safety measures. This suggests the essential safety procedures for estates with a high elderly population.

According to LTA, motorists have raised their concerns with regards to the road divider on the dual one-lane roads. They were worried that due to the centre dividers, vehicular breakdowns might choke the traffic. Concerning that, Mr Lin Hong Xiang, a senior engineer at the Road Safety Engineering Unit under LTA has expressed that the centre dividers are low-height dividers.

Hence, emergency vehicles are allowed to mount on it to get through. LTA also told The Straits Time that the new Three-Dimensional traffic markings were adopted from Tokyo and are currently being tested in Whampoa. Multiple surveys have proved that the markings were indeed effective in capturing motorists’ attention.

“The dividers were [effective] such as preventing drivers from speeding. I approve [of the new features].” says a Whampoa resident, who prefers to go by Ah Zhen, in Mandarin, when asked if the road safety features have helped the elderly residents. “Some people disapprove, but for me, [the] Government don’t want drivers to speed as [over] here, there are many elderly residents. Doing this makes crossing the road safer. Adding the fences [caused] elderly residents to not jaywalk recklessly,” the shopkeeper continued.

Pinch points and centre dividers are among the new features introduced to Whampoa. (PHOTO: VIVIAN ONG)

The road layout of the Whampoa Drive Silver Zone is incompatible for common road regulation measures such as road humps and strips which resulted in LTA adopting a fresh solution to it. Studies to test the effectiveness of the new measures are ongoing and will take a year to be concluded.

“Although most of the new road safety engineering measures are designed to calm traffic, they will not cause adverse effects to current traffic conditions. We put in our best effort to strike a balance between traffic efficiency and road safety,” says the senior engineer.

To regulate traffic conditions, some measures were implemented such as a mountable roundabout near Whampoa Makan Place.

“This has inevitably brought about issues such as jams especially at the peak hour [at] around six to seven pm. A roundabout was built and drivers take quite long to go through it and being the common road for all drivers to take to get into the housing districts, it has caused a jam which was non-existent in the past before the policies were implemented.” says Ms Jasmine Lim, 18, a Saint Andrew’s Junior College student.

With new features in place, it is inevitable that motorists are unable to adapt to the new road layout. However, Mr Lin assures that LTA will continue to monitor traffic conditions and make adjustments accordingly.

(ILLUSTRATION: VIVIAN ONG)