KUALA LUMPUR: DO we need to be loudly and repeatedly reminded, in front of other motorists, that it is an offence to stop in a yellow box junction? Apparently the answer is “yes”, if the behaviour of hundreds of motorists in the city centre is anything to go by.
Streets checks at several spots during peak hours last Friday revealed that fewer drivers stopped in yellow box junctions that had been installed with City Hall’s voice reminder system.
The system warns motorists to stay out of the yellow box with the message: “Kenderaan anda berhenti di dalam petak kuning, sila alihkan kenderaan anda” (Your vehicle has stopped in the yellow box, please move over).
At the Jalan Raja Laut/Jalan Tun Perak junction, which has a voice reminder system installed, it was observed that only about 20 motorists stopped in the yellow box within a period of 45 minutes.
That contrasted sharply with the situation at yellow box junctions without the speaker system.
At the Jalan Tun Perak/Lebuh Ampang traffic lights junction, at least 150 motorists were seen to have stopped within the yellow box in 45 minutes. At the Jalan Parlimen/Jalan Raja Laut junction, about 115 motorists were spotted within the yellow box.
Most had driven into the yellow boxes because they had failed to slow down when the traffic signal turned amber despite the long line of vehicles ahead.
At the Jalan Sultan Ismail/Jalan Ampang intersection, drivers were prevented from moving forward when the traffic signals were green for two cycles by a car that had stopped in the yellow box.
Looking at the behaviour of city motorists, it comes as no surprise that City Hall is considering implementing its speaker system at busy traffic light junctions.
City Hall has also deployed traffic wardens to monitor the busy roads to ensure that motorists abide by the traffic rules.
A driver, who wished to be known only as Ana, said some road users were selfish and did not care about the inconvenience they caused
others.
“A yellow box is placed at the junction to enable traffic from all directions to move without obstruction. However, many drivers choose to ignore that and try instead to squeeze in.
“Sometimes, there are emergency vehicles like the fire engine and ambulance that are blocked by vehicles on the yellow box,” she said.
Abdul Rashid Sharif, 60, said the voice reminder system was a good way to let motorists know they are breaking the law.
“Drivers should slow down when they approach a yellow box and the light has turned amber. They are being selfish by driving into the yellow box knowing that they would be obstructing the path of other vehicles as they wouldn’t be able to move forward anyway while the light was red.
“They know that it is an offence but if they still refuse to abide by the law, then enforcement is the only way to tackle the problem,” he said, adding that such drivers should be taught a lesson by being issued with a compound on the spot.
Eddie Lim, 27, said the problem stemmed from the drivers’ attitude rather than a lack of enforcement.
“They still do it despite knowing that they are committing an offence. No matter how many new laws and measures are introduced, as long as the motorists’ mindset does not change, the problem will prevail,” he said.
Lim suggested that awareness campaigns to educate the motorists be held as a way to tackling the issue.