PWD: More road signs in Manggatal, CCTV in Putatan | Daily Express Malaysia

PWD: More road signs in Manggatal, CCTV in Putatan

Published on: Wednesday, September 20, 2023

By: Sidney Skinner

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THE Public Works Department (PWD) will have more signs put up near the Jalan Rampayan-Tuaran Bypass intersection and have the demarcations on the road modified in the hopes of easing the traffic woes in this part of Manggatal.
The agency also plans to upgrade its closed-circuit television (CCTV) system along the main road in Putatan to facilitate efforts to nab traffic offenders, including hit-and-run drivers.

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This follows feedback from a Manggatal motorist and another from Kinarut about the poor experience they separately had on the Bypass and Jalan Putatan.

The agency’s staff looking at a CCTV in one part of Jalan Putatan.

The former shared the difficulty which he and other drivers – coming up the Bypass from Kota Kinabalu – encountered in entering the junction to Kg Rampayan.
The latter, on the other hand, vented his frustrations over his inability to identify the irresponsible party who ran into his car, while it was parked on Jalan Putatan, but fled the scene. 
The vehicle-owner had gone to get some take-away from an eatery while returning home from his office in the City at the time.

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Both individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent information which was forwarded to the agency.
A PWD spokesman said site-inspections were made of the respective locations, shortly after the Department learned about these grievances.

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He said the Department’s staff monitored the traffic flow at the intersection on the Tuaran Bypass for a time.
“They noticed that a majority of the drivers were entering the yellow box, painted on this part of the road, and coming to a halt very close to the traffic lights during a red-light,” he said.
“We intend to reconfigure the road markings to highlight the line before which the traffic is supposed to stop in such circumstances.
“On top of this, additional signage will be installed to alert the public to the presence of the line.”
He said the agency would accord priority to doing this, once funds allowed.

PWD officers also checking on the condition of the components related to the CCTVs along the road.

Where the CCTVs on Jalan Putatan were concerned, he said a remark about having this equipment overhauled had been included in the proposed list of works which the PWD hoped to carry out next year.
“The existing system was put in place years ago. 
“Given the many advances in technology which have taken place since then much of the hardware has been rendered obsolete.
“We want a dedicated server to cater for the CCTVs and are weighing up the possibility of expanding the system into Penampang.”
SUNG of Manggatal said he often found it difficult to make a right turn to Kg  Rampayan at the traffic lights near the building which used to house City Futsal because of the inconsiderate actions of drivers coming from the opposite direction.
“Road-users from Telipok and Tuaran do not come to a halt at the first white line before the lights,” he said.
“They encroach into ‘the yellow box’ and stop at the second white line closer to this facility.”
When the traffic lights turned green for these motorists, those turning right to Manggatal, or making a U-turn towards the City, sometimes only had seconds to do this.
“We risk being hit by oncoming traffic which makes it very stressful for us.
“This is especially so during the peak hours before offices opened and after they closed for the day.”
Sung hoped the local authorities would look into modifying the traffic demarcations at the traffic lights, before a bad accident happened at this facility and lives were lost.
MARC of Kinarut, meanwhile, was taken aback to find that the body of his car had a bad dent in it when he got home.
“It must have happened while I was away getting my food in Putatan,” he said. “Someone must have knocked my car and then drove off.”
He went to the Penampang Police Station the next day to enquire if anyone had reported an accident in Putatan for insurance purposes but no one had done this.
“I later spoke to a friend at the PWD hoping that the accident may have been recorded on one of its CCTVs in the area where I had left my car.
“To my dismay, I learned that they were not working. I was made to understand that some of the components had been vandalised one too many times and it had become too costly to keep attending to the damage.”
Owing to this, the Department had decided to leave the CCTVs inoperative, according to Marc.

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