Members of the Central District Community Service Consultative Council voiced their concerns yesterday about the city’s optimisation of pedestrian crossing facilities and the improvement of road surface conditions.
Zebra crossing adjustments
Council member Ao Ka Fai said he had received complaints from members of the public about the cancellation and relocation of zebra crossings in the city centre “without any reason”, which caused inconvenience to them when going out.
Ao said that, in recent years, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) had been focusing on the idea of “giving priority to vehicles”, pointing out that the bureau’s supposed “optimisation” of zebra crossings only considers that vehicles do not need to give way, or whether they would block vehicles behind them. Ao said the “optimisation” measures were “totally not from the pedestrian perspective”, leading to a “significant” decrease in people’s willingness to go for a walk.
Ao urged the bureau to abandon the idea of “giving priority to vehicles” and adopt pedestrians’ perspective instead by stopping to “arbitrarily” removing moving the existing zebra crossings, so as to “truly” encourage residents to “go green”.
Road surface optimisation
Meanwhile, fellow member Ieong Chon said that Macau has experienced an increase in hot weather, heavy rains and other adverse weather conditions in recent years, posing challenges to the quality of asphalt roads, adding that heavy vehicular traffic increases the possibility of unevenness and damage, resulting in an increasing occurrence of traffic accidents.
Ieong urged the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) to continue to improve the city’s road maintenance and repair mechanism, adding that in order to ensure road safety, the bureau should apply “digital standards” in daily inspections to accurately identify and record road conditions, and to follow up on roads that show signs of ageing while, at the same time, enhancing the frequency of inspections before and during the rainy season.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau should also set up a special webpage to update the public about the characteristics of the materials Macau’s roads are made of and show them what the relevant materials look like in different states, through which, he added, residents could then identify road sections showing safety risks and immediately report them to the bureau for follow-up action.
In terms of trunk roads with heavy vehicular traffic flow, Ieong urged the Transport Bureau to study and adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technology to process in real time the footage from the existing surveillance system and scientifically analyse the condition of road surfaces, thereby enhancing monitoring and follow-up efficiency when tackling road surface conditions.
Both Ao and Ieong made the appeals during a regular meeting at the Patane Activity Centre of the Municipal Market Complex on Avenida de Demétrio Cinatti yesterday afternoon.
Civic leaders from the Central District Community Service Consultative Council attend a regular meeting at the Activity Centre of the Patane Municipal Market yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
