Driving against flow of traffic not 'common occurrence': Traffic Police

Despite the recent spate of cases of vehicles caught driving against the flow of traffic, such incidents are not common occurrences, said the head of Traffic Police.

“This is not a common occurrence. We don’t have (many) people driving against the flow of traffic on an expressway at a high speed, like what we have seen in the last two cases,” said Senior Assistant Commissioner (SAC) and Commander Traffic Police Sam Tee on Wednesday (11 January).

While one driver will be charged in court Thursday for such an offence along the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), the majority of the recent cases are believed to have been committed unintentionally, he said.

Speaking at a media briefing, SAC Tee noted that seven such cases are currently under investigation. The cases come in the wake of the six-vehicle AYE accident last month caused by a Mercedes driver going against traffic and allegedly at high speed, which killed one man and injured several others.

These cases occurred between 28 December and 7 January.

In the most recent incident on 7 January, a driver of a white Subaru crossed double white lines to go against the flow of traffic and make a right turn at Orchid Club Road. Stern action will be taken against him as the act was found to be done wilfully.

With reference to most of the cases currently under investigation, SAC Tee added, “The driver either misjudged..or was unfamiliar with the road.”

Asked if TP would consider deploying technology that can detect vehicles travelling against the flow of traffic, SAC Tee said this was being considered, but that there was no operational need to do so at present.

Safer roads, fewer incidents

SAC Tee revealed that between January and September last year, there were 118 incidents of reckless or dangerous driving.

This was a sharp decline from 189 such incidents in the same period in 2015. “The roads (are) getting safer every year because it’s quite clear the number of fatalities has dropped. So the figures speak for themselves,” said SAC Tee.

TP is working with partners such as the Land Transport Authority to make road safety improvements.

The TP Commander also appealed to members of the public to send videos of traffic violations directly to police, in order to aid the process of investigation. He explained that this would enable TP to investigate and retrieve evidence, such as CCTV footage, quickly.

“TP’s intent is to work with the road users, so that we partner to police the roads.”