Edmund Lee Tat Weng
Traffic in Air Itam, near the Buddhist temple of Kek Lok Si, is worsening over the years and escalating in nuisance as thousands of vehicles and pedestrians throng the temple each day. This continuously irksome problem is inconveniencing residents who reside in the vacinity.
Despite the presence of policemen and RELA members, the traffic congestion remains the same as some of the drivers refuse to heed instructions from policemen and continuously obstruct traffic flow with random parking.
A check by Komunitikini last night found that the traffic queue at Air Itam area was jammed all the way to Chung Ling High School which is about 4km from Air Itam.
According to a resident who wishes to be known only as Leow said that the traffic congestion worsens every year and remains unsolved as lot of people flock the temple as Chinese New Year approaches.
“I hope that the local authorities will make some effort in reducing the congestion in the area by minimizing the number of cars allowed into the temple area.”
“The traffic restricts the residents from leaving their homes and this is very dangerous in case of an emergency” said Leow.
He also added that the only way to get out from Air Itam is on a motorcycle during the Chinese New Year festivities.
Another resident who declined to be name stated that some drivers would aimlessly park their vehicles in front of the resident’s houses without permission.
“This is totally ridiculous as I need to wait for almost one hour before the drivers comes down from Kek Lok Si” said the resident.
Another person known as Tham who shared similar views stated that drivers should have their vehicles towed away as this is a reoccurring nightmare.
“They need to understand that randomly parking in-front of people’s houses also means a dead man if there is an emergency.
“I really hope that some cohesive system can be implemented with the traffic flow in this area, so we won’t be facing the same old reoccurring problem year after year”, said Tham.
CJMY
Jimmy Tan
