The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in Singapore had a bit of a whoopsie moment on Saturday evening, announcing that they would be conducting a safety review after an accident that happened at Woodlands Checkpoint earlier that same day. The accident, which occurred at 5.28am, involved a Singapore-registered car and a Malaysia-registered bus having a little love tap along the Causeway. According to preliminary investigations, the accident happened because the contraflow operation was activated before the barriers were put in place. You know, just a tad bit of a safety procedure mishap there, oopsie daisy.
Not really sure why this matters, but the ICA made it known that they are taking this accident very seriously, and are lending a helping hand to the Traffic Police who are sniffing around for more information. The car driver, a 48-year-old dude, and his three passengers, who range from 14 to 78 years old, were all taken to the hospital after the accident. Thankfully, everyone was conscious, so no need to panic just yet. On the other hand, the bus passengers were unharmed, and the bus driver decided to pass on the medical assistance. Good for him, I guess.
Fast forward to 9.09am, four hours post-incident, and ICA finally announced that all lanes were open for departing traffic. After all that excitement, the agency mentioned that they’ve been doing this contraflow traffic management thingy at the Singapore side of the Causeway to help ease traffic congestion during peak hours. Basically, they’re converting the departure lane for heavy vehicles at the Causeway into an arrival lane to make way for those big boys who are blocking traffic. As part of their fancy safety procedures, barriers are supposed to be set up to redirect departing car traffic away from the contraflow lane, where the heavy vehicles are supposed to be chillin’.
ICA decided to hit the pause button on their contraflow operations over the weekend at both land checkpoints at Woodlands and Tuas right after the accident. They promised to give their safety measures a good once-over before starting the contraflow operations again. In the meantime, motorists should brace themselves for some delays, and ICA is kind enough to apologize for any inconvenience caused. So, there you have it, folks, a little hiccup at Woodlands Checkpoint that led to some unexpected drama. Let’s hope they iron out the kinks and get back on track soon.
