mid-day editorial: Make Freeway safe with rumble strips

Saturday’s accident on the Eastern Freeway, which killed six people from a family of nine, is the seventh fatal accident on the showpiece road since it was thrown open in 2013. More importantly, the accident was the third at the sharp turn in Wadi Bunder that has now accounted for 10 of the 17 casualties along the Freeway. Authorities have responded by saying they will install a tyre sidewall to cushion vehicles from impact. While this will definitely be a good move towards improving safety, we wonder why it required the deadliest accident on the stretch for officials to wake up.

This is not the first brainwave officials have had. Rumble strips were installed at exactly the same Wadi Bunder turn, but had to be removed within weeks, as commuters complained that it slowed down traffic and resulted in pile-ups as far back as Orange Gate on the north-bound carriageway and Wadala on the south-bound road. After much hand-wringing, it was decided that cameras would be installed. Eventually, in June 2015, a grand total of eight speed cameras were put up. This for a 17-km-long road! Not surprisingly, the police on Sunday said the accident was not caught on camera.