Briefs | Fire alarm at St. Regis results in evacuation of 70 people

A fire alarm at the St. Regis hotel last week resulted in the evacuation of 70 people, the Fire Services Bureau (HB) reported. According to the HB, a pile of burning construction materials in the hotel ballroom triggered the fire alarm. The hotel’s fire system began extinguishing the fire before the HB arrived. The HB deployed seven rescue vehicles and 28 people to handle the case. The 70 people reportedly all remained calm during the incident. The HB initially suspected that some people had deliberately left the source of the fire in the hotel ballroom, causing the fire. The HB has already forwarded the case to another investigation department to follow up on the cause of the fire.

55 works planned on major roads this year

In 2020, the local government will carry out 55 engineering projects on Macau’s major roads, the Transport Bureau (DSAT) reported on Friday. The DSAT’s road work coordination team has already received 301 (three more than in 2019) road work plans submitted by governmental departments and public affairs organizations. There will be two fewer projects on major roads. The 55 projects will involve roads including Avenida de Demetrio Cinatti, Avenida do Alm. Lacerda, Rotunda da Amizade, Avenida da Praia Grande and Avenida do Doutor Rodrigo Rodrigues. The works mainly include cable laying, flood prevention, drainage, sewer reorganization, road network reorganization and construction of flyovers.

Cases of jumping red lights grow 200%

The number of traffic prosecutions against jumping red lights increased by about 200% last year, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) reported on Friday in its traffic violation statistics report release. In total there were 2,265 cases of traffic prosecutions, the PSP issued 140 prosecutions against drink driving, nine more than in 2018. In April and July 2019, the PSP installed and started operating road junction comprehensive detection systems at 14 intersections. Last year, the PSP recorded 13,691 traffic accidents, a slight decrease of 0.52% year-on-year. Nearly one-quarter (about 3,400) of the accidents were caused due to insufficient distance between vehicles. Approximately 21% of the accidents were caused when drivers did not pay attention to road conditions when turning or reversing. The PSP also reported a 48.2% decrease in taxi infractions. In 2019, some 3,172 taxi violations were recorded (6,126 cases in 2018). Overcharging decreased by 50.6% to 1,900 cases. The number of cases of taxis refusing to accept passengers also halved to 675 cases. The new taxi regulation came into effect on June 3, 2019.