ZIGZAG lines will be marked on five more roads in Penang island to alert motorists to slow down when approaching a pedestrian crossing.
In a pilot project launched last October, the state introduced its first zigzag lines at Burmah Road, just in front of the Malaysian Buddhist Association.
Based on a report, state Work, Utilities and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the public awareness on the purpose of introducing zigzag lines was still lacking.
“We need to raise the awareness about this project. Although the residents and people support this initiative to make the state a safer place, many are still not aware of its purpose,” Zairil told a press conference at TGV cinema in 1st Avenue before showing a 30-second video on a safety campaign concerning zigzag lines.
He said the five new locations for zigzag lines would be at Light Street (in front of State Legislative Assembly building), Beach Street (near the junction with Bishop Street), Jalan Kampong Kolam (near the junction with Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling), Penang Road (near the junction with Chulia Street) and Gurney Drive (near Gurney hawker centre).
To promote the awareness of the zigzag lines, Zairal said three educational videos would be shown via social media.
The first video, titled ‘Lifetime Waiting’, was shown to the media at the press conference today.
Zairil said all the three videos would be screened by TGV Cinemas in Penang at Gurney Paragon Mall, 1st Avenue Mall and Bukit Mertajam before the film proper as part of TGV’s corporate social responsibility.
The other two videos will be launched in February and March.
Zairil also thanked MBPP, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros), Penang Road Safety Department (JKJR), TGV cinemas and ImageFarm for their cooperation towards the production of the videos and road safety campaigns.
MBPP councillor Connie Tan Hooi Peng, who was also present, said the zigzag lines would be drawn at these five areas within two months after the approval by the MBPP infrastructure committee.
“We thank YB Zairil for leading the road safety campaign since 2015. Our focus is on behavioural change so that motorists would slow down and stop for pedestrians to cross the roads safely,” Tan said.
There were two deaths at the pedestrian crossings on Burmah Road since 2017.
Also present at the press conference were TGV Cinemas regional manager (field operations) Mohd Asyraf Yong, JKJR director M. Thurkah, MBPP senior engineer (traffic) Zainuddin Mohamad Shariff, Miros research officers Mohd Shafie Nemmang and Syed Tajul Malik Syed Tajul Arif and ImageFarm director Loo Shun Ming.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Law Suun Ting
