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OLD SIGN: The old blue-and-white signs have been in use since the early 90s to appeal for witnesses. -- ST FILE PHOTO
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THE blue-and-white signs that police place at roadsides to appeal to the public for leads in serious accidents are being replaced.
Forty new signs - also in blue and white, but with reflective yellow strips - have been put into service to replace the worn-out ones, the Traffic Police said in response to queries from The Straits Times.
The new signs, deployed since the beginning of this month, are 'designed to enhance conspicuity and legibility', a spokesman said.
The reflective material is used widely in road signs, including those put up during last year's International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings.
The Traffic Police are hoping the new signs will prove as effective as the old ones.
Last August, a 44-year-old motorcyclist died when his motorcycle skidded and slammed into a bus. It was believed he was riding against the flow of traffic along Tuas Avenue, but nobody at the accident scene could confirm this.
A sign was put up, and two weeks later, an eyewitness came forward with information that absolved the bus driver of all responsibility for the accident and helped solve the case.
The first signs, introduced in the early 1990s, came to be used because of poor response to appeals made through the media.
They also serve to remind motorists that an accident had happened in the area, and they should be careful along that particular stretch of the road.
The new signs have gone up in at least three places so far, including the junction of Woodlands Avenue 7 and Gambas Avenue, where a motorcyclist in his early 20s died following a collision with a car on Sept 2.
joolin@sph.com.sg
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