Traffic police are there for our safety and to be obeyed

TRAFFIC police are there for our general safety and when they give the signal to redirect or halt traffic, the last thing they expect is for motorists to drive over them.

Motorists must pay more attention and obey all orders given by traffic police officers especially if the officer is on point duty with the responsibility of regulating heavy, congested, angry traffic during peak hours.

A reminder came from the Royal Brunei Police Force in light of the recent hit and run case which involved a female traffic police officer who sustained minor injuries when a car ran into her during rush hour.

According to police reports, the officer, who was on duty regulating traffic along Jalan Jangsak in the early hours of Monday morning, halted oncoming traffic to allow motorists waiting at a u-turn bend to safely drive on, when an errant motorist cut the long queue of stationary vehicles by driving on the hard shoulder and ran her over.

The accident, along the U-turn section of the main road along Jalan Beribi-Kilanas, close to the PDS school in Kg Jangsak, was a hit and run case that stunned the nation.

Not only did that motorist, who has been identified and is now under police investigation, ignore the orders given by the female traffic police officer, but took his own initiative to drive on the hard shoulder, hit the female police officer and then drive away.

According to the police, it is a traffic offence for those found guilty of deliberately obstructing or not giving cooperation to traffic police especially those on point duty.

It is also an offence for anyone who fails to stop and give assistance to those that have sustained injuries in a road accident.

The charges for both offences, the police said, can be sentenced under section 31 of the Road Traffic Act, Chapter 68, which carries a 12 month imprisonment and $8,000 fine.

The court also has the right to suspend the person's license for up to two years if found guilty.

According to police reports, the motorist who ran over the female police officer, who is in his early forties, told police officers later that he was "in a rush to get his children off to school and did not notice the female traffic police officer on the side of the road where he was travelling."

This statement is astounding on many fronts. Who among those many motorists that morning was not in a rush to get somewhere important? Almost everyone on that road that morning was off to work or dropping off their children to school or both. Furthermore, if he did not "notice the traffic police officer", in her uniform, during that adequately lit morning, then shouldn't it be time for that motorist to have his eyes checked? And when his car bumped into her body, did he not notice the impact? No, of course he didn't. That's why he just decided to drive off, in plain view of everyone there.

The police have said, that if found guilty, the man will be charged under section 33 (1) of the Road Traffic Act Cap 68 and punishable under section 33 (4) of the same.

The penalty for the offence, they added, is a fine of $2,000 and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, imprisonment for six months and a fine of $4,000.

According to police officials, the man will be charged for three offences — Hit and run, failure to assist an injured person involved in a traffic accident and driving on the shoulder of the road.

We are thankful for the thankless job that traffic police officers do everyday, who risk life and limb and are glad that the officer was unharmed.

The Brunei Times