We note an astonishing new road design on the old Peradeniya-Kandy road. The road has been widened to allow three lanes for vehicles, instead of the usual two. The result is a narrow pavement, with pedestrians being forced to jump into the drain or duck into a shop to avoid oncoming traffic.
In most countries, road users are warned at least 400 metres ahead of any change in the arrangement of lanes on a highway. The middle lane of this new three-lane highway changes directions with no notice whatever, driving the hell out of any new driver entering this zone.For example, if you miss the arrow marked “North” in the middle lane, you could have a head-on collision with traffic coming from the other direction. To maintain a correct direction, you have to jump from one lane to another every 100 or 200 metres, an impossible task for any long vehicle. This is the first time I have experienced such “zig-zag” travel in a main road.
The irony is that in this new road design the usual “zig-zag” warning lines of the zebra crossing have disappeared, and the zebra crossing itself is now a zig-zag.
We are taught to cross roads at their narrowest width, and where there is maximum visibility. At this particular crossing, the pedestrian take twice as long to cross the road. Will this help to reduce traffic accidents?
Chula Goonasekera,Peradeniya |
E-mail