Police and Land Transport Department personnel stopping vehicles for violating traffic regulations during the operation at the Kiulap roundabout.In light of the recent increase in accidents on Brunei's road, the Royal Brunei Police Force is taking serious measures to curb the worrying trend and will be organising a weeklong operation in the next three months to raise awareness and educate the public on road safety.
Pengiran Sulaiman Pg Hj Mohammad, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, Director of Traffic Control and Investigation, said this during a briefing yesterday.
However, the date of the operation that will cover the whole district is yet to be decided.
"The recent increase in the number of accidents," Pengiran Sulaiman said, "can be attributed to the bad weather in the month of January and February, other causes include drivers using mobile phones while driving which can endanger other road users, as well as speeding.
"During routine roadblocks, many were found driving without road tax and driving licence. The police have taken action under the Road and Traffic Act.
"The weeklong operation to be conducted in the coming months with Land Transport Department is an awareness campaign," he said.
"We will stop vehicles that violate the Road and Traffic Act. We will inform and educate traffic violators of their offences so that they will understand their mistake, which will help in minimising accidents," he added.
"We will display the offences and punishments in conjunction with the Royal Brunei Police Day to build awareness to the public. Many people may think that the punishments for traffic offences are light. From the exhibition, the public should learn that there are hefty fines for traffic offences. Within the three-month period, we hope to achieve our target on continuously educating road users on their offences."
In taking a proactive step to reduce the number of accidents, Pengiran Sulaiman said, "The Royal Brunei Police Force has provided daily accident information to Land Transport Department and Public Works Department. The aim of the information is to help the Public Works Department to look at the areas of the accidents and the cause of the accidents, whether it was due to the road condition, so that actions could be taken by the department. With regards to self accident cases, the Public Works Department claims damages from insurance companies of vehicles involved in accidents that damage government property."
The information passed to Land Transport Department, he said, is for them to check on the vehicles involved in the accidents, whether the vehicles were technically sound to be on the road or was the driver qualified to drive. "With the joint effort, hopefully we can reduce the accident rate," he said.
Meanwhile, yesterday's operation to raise awareness on the correct way to use the Kiulap three-lane roundabout led to 45 compound cases in just half an hour.
Led by Staff Major Shamsudin, the police personnel involved in the operation said that most of the motorists didn't know the correct way to use the roundabout.
The operation yesterday came about after the Royal Brunei Police Force and Land Transport Department held a safety programme on February 17 at the three-lane roundabout to educate road users the proper way to use it.
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