Saturday night would have been a bad night for some families if the police had not been quick to respond to an accident at Poreporena Freeway above Hohola Tunnel in Port Moresby, where an expatriate ran into a brick barricade, causing it to fall on the road and block one lane.
According to National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Warrick Simatab, the expatriate, who was traveling at high speed towards Konedobu, hit the brick barricade. He said a police unit responded to the scene, and while alerting the vehicles coming down from Konedobu towards Waigani and Gordons, three vehicles ran into the brick barricade, damaging their vehicles and rendering them unable to move.
He said the expatriate who was speeding after hitting the barricade drove off towards Lawes Road and ran into a yard, causing serious damage to a property. His vehicle was also unable to move when the police arrived. He said the police arrested him and also advised other units to show their presence on the freeway to ensure no other vehicles were damaged by the barricade.
“I am happy that the police units’ presence at the scene saved many accidents last night because vehicles driving down from Burns Peak Drive at high speed were likely to hit the barricade, causing more accidents. However, the police officers did a great job by preventing most vehicles from being involved. Unfortunately, three vehicles that were not alert to see the police blue lights ran into the barricade and damaged their vehicles. Luckily, there were no fatal accidents, but there were some serious incidents involving the vehicles,” Metsupt Simatab said.
He further added that apart from those accidents, there were other traffic accidents reported around the city, including one at the Boroko Motors Traffic Light at Islander. He said the other one was at Bomana. There were others that were also reported through police communication channels.
Metsupt Simatab said that since many accidents were reported, police conducted some roadblocks that had minimized some accidents, but it did not completely stop them; some still occurred as mentioned. He said accidents in the city are still increasing, and one cause identified was alcohol.
He stated that police had been conducting awareness campaigns and will continue to do so regarding accidents. He said the onus is now on the public to adhere to the traffic awareness campaign.
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