Risking death to make U-turns

FOR the past week road users have been cheating death to make U-turns at the corner of Jalan Batu Maung /Jalan Permatang Damar Laut with a junction into the Permatang Damar Laut re-settlement area. They are not doing this by choice but by requirement of the road construction company.
The federal project to widen the main roads from single lane to double lane either way is not completed yet. The lanes have a divider separating them as there are many side roads from the many residential areas along the roads. The widened road will have a few U-turn points and traffic lights. It is learnt that the traffic lights (part of "street furniture") will only be put in place as the finishing touches to the widening project.
This three-way junction with a U-turn is in the middle of the corner with a short line of sight of oncoming traffic. As all the openings in the divider have been closed, all traffic from several housing estates going towards Batu Maung have to take a left turn and U-turn back towards Batu Maung at this blind corner.
They dash to make the U-turn as vehicles may suddenly appear from around the blind corner. At least one minor collision has taken place between a motorcycle and a car and a few near misses have been observed. Traffic should not have been diverted to make U-turns here before the junction / U-turn was completed with working traffic lights.
In building new roads (without any traffic movement), it is standard practice to put in the street furniture (road signs and markings, traffic lights, street lights, etc) as the finishing touches. This procedure should not be blindly followed in the case of roadworks on existing roads. Safety must be given priority.
Agencies responsible for road safety – the JKR, Road Safety Department and MIROS must make sure procedures /plans /contracts for upgrading works make safety a priority.
Junctions and turnings should be completed as quickly as possible with all the necessary street furniture in place and operational so that traffic that has to move into or across the path of other fast moving traffic can do so safely. This should be made a "special requirement" of the contracts.
In the present case, the authority supervising the upgrading works should take immediate steps to see that the traffic lights that are supposed to be installed at this three-pronged junction (at the elbow of the sharp corner) are installed right now and not when other street furniture is installed upon completion of the road-widening project late this year or even next year.
Meantime, some other measure(s) must be taken to ensure traffic from Bayan Lepas towards Batu Maung slows down sufficiently before reaching this junction and keeps strictly to the left lane to enable vehicles to make the U-turn safely. Widening the road to a two-lane dual carriageway has encouraged people to speed.
Measures to prevent rear end collisions with vehicles waiting to U-turn must also be put in place as they also cannot be seen from a safe distance.
Ravinder Singh
Batu Maung