The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be installing more Red-Amber-Green (RAG) arrows at traffic junctions in the coming years.

More RAG arrows by 2023

This was announced by Senior Parliamentary Secretary Baey Yam Keng at the Ministry of Transport's Committee of Supply debates on Mar. 5.

Since it was first announced in 2018, RAG arrows have been implemented at more than 300 junctions, said Baey.

LTA targets to have these RAG arrows at a total of 1,200 traffic junctions by 2023, out of the total 1,600 junctions in Singapore.

The arrows help control right turns at these junctions and make these crossings safer for motorists and pedestrians—motorists are required to wait for the arrow to turn green before making the turn.

Without the arrows, pedestrians and motorists travelling in an oncoming direction are allowed to cross the junction at the same time as the motorist making a right turn.

For the remaining junctions, LTA will continue studying the feasibility of installing more RAG arrows.

Certain locations might not be fitted with RAG arrows due to site constraints—in such cases LTA will install other safety enhancement measures to reduce motorists' speed such as warning signs, turning pockets and lighted road studs.

Numerous accidents at junctions with discretionary right turns

Discretionary right turns are notorious prone to traffic accidents, especially when drivers are inexperienced or impatient.

Such turns have also resulted in a number of widely-publicised fatal accidents, like this 2018 incident at Jalan Anak Bukit where a 23-year-old woman died after the driver, her friend, collided into an off-service SMRT bus.

Another fatal accident which sparked much public outrage and sympathy was the 2019 death of NUS undergraduate Kathy Ong.

The taxi, which was ferrying the 19-year-old Ong along with three schoolmates, had made a discretionary right turn and was subsequently T-boned by a speeding driver at a junction at Commonwealth Ave West.

Previous calls to scrap discretionary right turns

The two fatal accidents led to a petition calling for the ban of discretionary right turns at junctions.

Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Lim Sun Sun also spoke in Parliament in July 2019, calling on LTA to accelerate the outlawing of discretionary right turns.

This was prompted by an accident she experienced with a double-decker bus.

Even with the implementation of RAG arrows, LTA urges motorists and pedestrians alike to play their part by observing good road safety practices and adhering to traffic rules.

Top photo from Traffic light Collection99 / YouTube.