Stopping is just not our way

I REFER to the letter “Blind to the zebra crossing” ( The Star, Jan 19). The zebra crossing is one of the existing facilities provided for pedestrians in Malaysia. This facility is normally painted in black and white lines to make pedestrians more visible while crossing the road.

These markings warn drivers that there may be pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross the road. They also tell drivers that they must give way to pedestrians at the crossing.

How the zebra crossing contributes to the safety of pedestrians is related to the rules applied to it. In several countries, the rules give priority to pedestrians over vehicles approaching the zebra crossing. For instance, in Britain and Ontario (Canada), there is a clear statement declaring that “all vehicles must give way once a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing and completely crossed at pedestrian crossovers”.

Similar rules apply in state legislations in the United States, where vehicles must yield the right of way to pedestrians within a crosswalk. In addition, a clear statement says the driver shall reduce speed and stop to give way to the pedestrians whenever pedestrians are passing the crosswalk.

Having such a law eliminates wrong interpretation of the procedures to be followed by motorists at zebra crossings.

In Malaysia, pedestrians and vehicles are considered as traffic that are bound by the Road Transport Act 1987. This Act was enacted to make provisions for the regulation of motor vehicles and traffic on roads and other matters with respect to roads and vehicles. Nevertheless, there is considerable confusion about the obligations of vehicle drivers and pedestrians at the zebra crossing, which was also highlighted in the Basic Guideline on Pedestrian Facilities (Public Works Department Malaysia, 1997).

In the Road Transport Act, the rule states the duty of pedestrians and drivers to comply with traffic directions, and the penalties for neglect of traffic directions and signs are stated in Sections 76, 79 (1) and 79 (2). Pedestrians will get their right of way to cross by time separation through the given instruction from the enforcement officer or traffic warden. Alternatively, pedestrians’ right of way to cross is also given when the traffic light for pedestrians turns to green.

A study conducted in a university campus in Malaysia found that the willingness of drivers to stop for pedestrians to cross is very low. Only six out of 260 cars observed the rule. Pedestrians may get a chance to cross if the vehicles are moving in groups. This situation may probably be due to the misunderstanding on the rule of the right of way at pedestrian crossings that do not have any traffic signal.

The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) has conducted an observation on pedestrians and drivers’ behaviour at both signalised and unsignalised zebra crossings.

Findings show that around 74% of drivers do not give way to pedestrians at zebra crossing especially at unsignalised junctions.

For signalised junctions, only 8.2% of drivers disobeyed the traffic rules (run the red light) at zebra crossings. While observing the behaviour of pedestrians and drivers at the signalised and unsignal ised zebra crossings, it was noted that 8.3% of the drivers were using their mobile phone at the crossing.

Meanwhile, an observation of pedestrians who used the zebra crossing noted that they used the crosswalk in a proper way at unsignalised (95.4%) and signalised (83.1%) junctions.

Incidentally, it was found that 16.8% of pedestrians used mobile phones while using the zebra crossing at unsignalised junctions and 5.1% at signalised junctions.

Findings from this observation suggest that zebra crossings should be equipped with some form of traffic signal to make sure that vehicles duly stop for pedestrians to cross.

It is also recommended that the respective law enforcement authorities issue summonses or implement the point deduction system if drivers are caught for not giving right of way to pedestrians at zebra crossings.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE Chairman Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research