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Each and every year, whenever there is a festive season, Segamat town do get congested. It seems that the roads in Segamat town being overwhelmed by the vehicles driven into it by those who realised..acknowledged that they're the children of Segamat. Well, don't be mad.. There are people who doesn't want to acknowledge Segamat as their hometown. They simply wants themselves to be recognised coming from Johor Bahru not from Segamat eventhough they actually came from Segamat. Enough of that.. that's just me hating the ideas of some people not believing in Segamat. Okay.. back to the traffic congestion.
Everyday traffic as I always experience it, is rather smooth, except for Fridays. I don't know why but it seems that traffic is heavier on Friday afternoons. Guess i need to do a traffic study on this. The problem is between Persimpangan Sia Her Yam to Persimpangan Permaisuri. I used to got stuck between those two junctions for about 10 minutes during normal Fridays but the time increases to 20 minutes last Friday. Well, to those from KL or JB, 20 minutes is not a big deal. But for me and for many, such situation would affect their daily routine. Something needs to be done.
First, I would like to see if these traffic are only through traffic or local traffic created by those who came back to Segamat for their holidays. If its only through traffic, I would also like to know where they're going. Knowing this, we should be able to divert these through traffic to alternative routes before they even enter Segamat town. However, we need to understand that providing alternative routes should only be a solution during festive seasons as providing a permanent alternative route like a "by-pass" can kill a town. Remember, the North-South Highway do actually "kills" Segamat town. So, we must be careful on proposing a "by-pass" to solve traffic woes in Segamat town.
Well, if the answer to my question of whether the traffic is through or local traffic is local traffic then we might have to re-engineer the traffic system in Segamat. I have a lot of ideas, but I need more feedback so that the ideas will not only be coming from me but from a collective view from people of Segamat. Back in the late 1990's, the government through the Segamat Town Local Plan do actually try to change the whole traffic system in Segamat town. But the idea was not accepted well by the public because they are fears that such change would affect a number of businesses. My comment is, perhaps the idea was not developed through a series of talks, focus group discussions or meetings but only developed by a bunch of traffic engineers not knowing about the local traffic problems, the local businesses as well as the local people aspirations. We all know that it is very difficult to ask people to accept change, but it is much easier if they iniatiate change for themselves. All we have to do is to guide them.
I believe that one-way traffic system can solve a number of issues to certain areas if done correctly. Imagine, a road that all these while have been ignored. Then, when a one-way traffic system is introduced, the road will now be used to divert traffic. It will certainly benefit those who owns building along the road. With some effort, they should be able to capitalise on the opportunity and reap all the potential benefits. I see this as a great way to redistribute wealth.
Anyway, I truly hope that with this article will encourage people to give ideas on their own on how to tackle the seasonal traffic problems that we face each and every year.
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