JKR: SPEEDING, ILLEGAL U-TURNS MAIN CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS AT PAN BORNEO HIGHWAY

According to Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak deputy director for infrastructure Cassidy Morris, there are motorists who are not aware of the speed limit designated for the highway.

“The speed limit for some parts of the highway, like the stretch from Moyan Square to Sematan, is limited to 90 kilometres per hour.

“We hope that with more people using the highway, they would abide by the signs and the set traffic rules so as to reduce the incidence of accidents in the future.

“It’s understandable that the road users in Sarawak need time to understand the design of the Pan Borneo Highway as well,” he told reporters when met during a road safety awareness campaign event carried out by one of the highway contractors, SaraWorks Sdn Bhd, at the Moyan Square Junction near here yesterday.

Cassidy, who represented JKR Sarawak director Richard Tajan at the programme, said the department planned to hold road safety campaigns as frequently as possible, as a measure to bring down the number of highway accidents, especially during festive seasons.

“We thus would want to organise and run more campaigns and activities, all aimed at raising the awareness of safety on the Pan Borneo Highway,” he said.

According to him, among the new safety features slated for the highway is the P-turn, which acts as an indirect U-turn designed for highways with a median of limited lanes.

He cited the highway stretch from Sematan to Moyan as an example, where it would have 24 P-turns with a distance of five kilometres between each of them.

“For each, there will be a signboard to notify motorists that there is a P-turn 300 metres ahead.”

On another subject, Cassidy expressed support for the government to build new, or convert some existing sites along the Pan Borneo Highway into to rest-and-service areas.

“Such areas are vital for the motorists who are using the highway.”

Adding on, Cassidy also said the JKR had always been supportive of move by the contractors in running programmes meant to raise safety awareness among the users of the Pan Borneo Highway.

“JKR, itself, would continue with its road safety awareness campaign for the Pan Borneo Highway, and we welcome and support the same initiative by our contractors.”

Three-hundred goodies bags, which also contained road safety pamphlets, were distributed to motorists travelling past the Moyan Square Junction during the event.

Also present yesterday were SaraWorks Sdn Bhd project director for the company’s Pan Borneo WPC02 project Chuah Chuan Chee and other officials from JKR Sarawak.