Time to take road safety issue seriously
Road sense?: Educating people, besides enforcement of traffic regulations is the only way to curb road accidents. Picture: BT/Saifulizam
Friday, September 19, 2008
AN ACCIDENT which took place on Wednesday brought attention to the plight of pedestrians making their way to Jame' Asr' Hassanil Bolkiah in Kiarong, easily the largest place of worship in Brunei Darussalam.
Despite being located next to busy commercial areas, those working nearby or within the vicinity require a car to safely fulfil their religious obligations. One foreign worker found out the hard way being the victim of his own haste.
The identity of the accident victim still withheld, he contributed towards his own detriment after making a dash for the grand mosque just before dusk. However, instead of arriving on time for the call to break fast, he found himself in the back of a speeding ambulance making its way to Ripas hospital A&E after sustaining head injuries in a serious road accident.
Before accusations can be labelled towards the driver of the vehicle, the incident took place in one of the most unlikely sections of roads to accommodate a crossing. No facilities are available to pedestrians on the stretch of road. Witnesses say the foreign worker after having reached the median separating the first of a two-laned carriage way leading to and from the giant roundabout in Kiulap. Once there, he, continued his crossing past the final two lanes, where as staying put would have provided relative.
"He kept on going when he should have stopped, he shouldn't have even crossed there in the first place," said Sharif, a foreign worker from India.
Highlighting the difficulties faced by those who choose to walk to the mosque, Sharif is like many other Muslim foreign workers in the commercial precints of Kiulap and Gadong.
They voluntarily make their way to the same mosque because not only is it nearby, but also because "since it is the biggest, the 'jemaah' is usually larger".
"The only thing is the lengths we go to reach the mosque on foot," said Sharif. Walking to the mosque is considered to be a sunnah and a great deed in itself, which is one of the reasons many continue to do so around Brunei. An Indonesian worker in his 20s who did not not want to be named, said that he makes the extra effort to walk to Jame' Asr' Hassanil Bolkiah during Ramadhan. "I walk with one or two friends, sometimes more depending on who can get time off work," said the supermarket attendant.
Beginning their journey for tarawih prayers, they leave the The Mall in Gadong and use the sidewalks leading up to the Gadong wet market. However, it becomes a dangerous game where one begins to question the wisdom of taking such a route.
"We cross the (Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah) highway if we are in a hurry, otherwise we move towards the roundabout and cross when the cars have stopped," he said.
Crossing the highway directly from the wet market means dealing with an exit lane for traffic leaving the roundabout, across the four main lanes of the highway and a further two lanes which accommodates motorists entering the roundabout which splits into a further three lanes. Seven lanes at its narrowest and in total eight to contend with and their journey from Gadong to the mosque is only half completed. From there, they will need to cross the same four lanes which saw a compatriot worker taken to hospital.
While the obvious solution would be to facilitate such crossings with pedestrian overpasses, a similar scenario had developed in the Serusop area, where throngs merely cross the road instead of utilising the purpose built overpass completed not more than two years ago.
Ali, originally from India who now works in the Teguh Raya supermarket, says that it is merely quicker for him to cross the street instead of taking the overpass, "safety wise yes there are cars, but they don't speed because they know come prayer time that there are people crossing".
This however does not mean that these acts of jaywalking should be dealt with in a blase manner, said a retired police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"If there are no other cars on the road, and you run a red light, it is still an offence," he argued, adding "there is no difference to that and crossing the road when there is an overpass provided for the safety of all in question".
There has also been the long standing issue of schools needing similar facilities as parents who come to pick up their children after school overcrowd the available car parks, to the point that many are left no other alternative than to park on the road shoulder and accompany their children to the illegally parked cars.
Hence education and awareness on these issues, while mostly common sense, have to be discussed and aired amongst the public in order for added infrastructure and facilities to have a greater impact.
It seems a proactive stance would benefit all with initiatives such as the Road and Traffic Safety Council furthered, as opposed to only reacting to unfortunate incidents which could have been avoided in the very beginning.The Brunei Times
Despite being located next to busy commercial areas, those working nearby or within the vicinity require a car to safely fulfil their religious obligations. One foreign worker found out the hard way being the victim of his own haste.
The identity of the accident victim still withheld, he contributed towards his own detriment after making a dash for the grand mosque just before dusk. However, instead of arriving on time for the call to break fast, he found himself in the back of a speeding ambulance making its way to Ripas hospital A&E after sustaining head injuries in a serious road accident.
Before accusations can be labelled towards the driver of the vehicle, the incident took place in one of the most unlikely sections of roads to accommodate a crossing. No facilities are available to pedestrians on the stretch of road. Witnesses say the foreign worker after having reached the median separating the first of a two-laned carriage way leading to and from the giant roundabout in Kiulap. Once there, he, continued his crossing past the final two lanes, where as staying put would have provided relative.
"He kept on going when he should have stopped, he shouldn't have even crossed there in the first place," said Sharif, a foreign worker from India.
Highlighting the difficulties faced by those who choose to walk to the mosque, Sharif is like many other Muslim foreign workers in the commercial precints of Kiulap and Gadong.
They voluntarily make their way to the same mosque because not only is it nearby, but also because "since it is the biggest, the 'jemaah' is usually larger".
"The only thing is the lengths we go to reach the mosque on foot," said Sharif. Walking to the mosque is considered to be a sunnah and a great deed in itself, which is one of the reasons many continue to do so around Brunei. An Indonesian worker in his 20s who did not not want to be named, said that he makes the extra effort to walk to Jame' Asr' Hassanil Bolkiah during Ramadhan. "I walk with one or two friends, sometimes more depending on who can get time off work," said the supermarket attendant.
Beginning their journey for tarawih prayers, they leave the The Mall in Gadong and use the sidewalks leading up to the Gadong wet market. However, it becomes a dangerous game where one begins to question the wisdom of taking such a route.
"We cross the (Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah) highway if we are in a hurry, otherwise we move towards the roundabout and cross when the cars have stopped," he said.
Crossing the highway directly from the wet market means dealing with an exit lane for traffic leaving the roundabout, across the four main lanes of the highway and a further two lanes which accommodates motorists entering the roundabout which splits into a further three lanes. Seven lanes at its narrowest and in total eight to contend with and their journey from Gadong to the mosque is only half completed. From there, they will need to cross the same four lanes which saw a compatriot worker taken to hospital.
While the obvious solution would be to facilitate such crossings with pedestrian overpasses, a similar scenario had developed in the Serusop area, where throngs merely cross the road instead of utilising the purpose built overpass completed not more than two years ago.
Ali, originally from India who now works in the Teguh Raya supermarket, says that it is merely quicker for him to cross the street instead of taking the overpass, "safety wise yes there are cars, but they don't speed because they know come prayer time that there are people crossing".
This however does not mean that these acts of jaywalking should be dealt with in a blase manner, said a retired police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"If there are no other cars on the road, and you run a red light, it is still an offence," he argued, adding "there is no difference to that and crossing the road when there is an overpass provided for the safety of all in question".
There has also been the long standing issue of schools needing similar facilities as parents who come to pick up their children after school overcrowd the available car parks, to the point that many are left no other alternative than to park on the road shoulder and accompany their children to the illegally parked cars.
Hence education and awareness on these issues, while mostly common sense, have to be discussed and aired amongst the public in order for added infrastructure and facilities to have a greater impact.
It seems a proactive stance would benefit all with initiatives such as the Road and Traffic Safety Council furthered, as opposed to only reacting to unfortunate incidents which could have been avoided in the very beginning.The Brunei Times
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