LTA Launches Public Education Programme For Lorry Crane Owners And Drivers
1. LTA has developed a series of public education materials to be distributed to all lorry crane owners to remind them of the importance of keeping to the height limits on our roads.
2. Currently, most road structures have a posted height limit of 4.5 metres for vehicles passing through. From 2000 to 2006, there were 111 cases of vehicles hitting road structures, such as pedestrian overhead bridges, gantries and covered walkways.
3. When vehicles hit road structures, apart from causing damage to public road facilities and incurring repair costs, it also endangers the lives of the drivers and sometimes even pedestrians. In March this year, when a crane hit the bottom of the Toa Payoh North Flyover, it resulted in falling debris and the entire Braddell Road to be closed for close to five hours.
4. Among these reported cases, 68 per cent of them were due to drivers who forgot to retract the cranes fitted on their lorries before driving off.
5. From October onwards, all registered lorry crane vehicle owners will receive an information package from LTA which contains an information brochure and reminder stickers to reiterate the importance of retracting their cranes properly. The information package will also contain useful tips on what drivers should do before making their journey.
6. Apart from sending out the information package, LTA's enforcement officers plying the roads will stop drivers who did not retract their cranes completely and pass them a set of the information so as to remind them of the importance of retracting the cranes properly.
7. LTA is also working with Pan Country Driving Centre, the only centre that conducts training for Class 4 & 5 drivers, to show all trainees a video on the responsibilities of heavy vehicle drivers, before they get their licences. The specially produced video stresses the importance of route planning, checking for height limits before moving off, and consequences of hitting road structures.
8. "With this concerted effort to educate drivers, we hope to get owners and drivers more aware of the consequences of their vehicles hitting the road structures, hence keeping the number of such incidents to a minimum," said Mr Chua Chen Kok, Deputy Director, Road Customers Relations.