Driving. Let's put it simply. You put your buttocks on the driver's seat, fire up your engines and off you go. Be it to work, school, a meeting with friends or loved ones. Driving is one of the many ways of commuting. However, is it the best?
Putting money issues aside, let's do a simple comparison of driving vs taking the public transport (bus, MRT, taxi). You get all the freedom you can when you drive. Choose your own route, your set off time, where you want to park etc. However, peak hour driving is not fun at all here in Singapore. Having so many cars packed into 1 tiny island and having most move during peak hours contribute to one thing - congestion. Sure you have your own time and convenience but you will have to deal with the congestion (which is sadly, getting pretty common in Singapore nowadays) and the possibility of getting into an accident which may contribute to monetary losses and sometimes injuries or even death.
Moving on to public transport, you get "chauffeured" around in a bus or taxi where you can sleep, read, listen to music or WhatsApp which is impossible to do while driving except maybe for listening to music. The downside? You probably have to stand for your whole journey home at peak hours and if there is a congestion, you will have to suck it up anyway. However, instead of being stuck in a jam as a driver, being stuck in a jam as a passenger is much better since you do not have to focus on anything. Avoid the jams? Yes, take the MRT (and pray that it does not break down). No matter how congested it is on the PIE, BKE, MCE, AYE, ECP, KPE, KJE, SLE, CTE or TPE, you simply zip through tracks and tunnels to your destination. Probably the best choice during peak hours in crowded cities.
I took the public transport for over 20 years of my life before I started driving a year ago. My family never owned a car before that and almost all my travelling were on public transport, minus the occasional lift from friends or relatives. Driving is a very fun thing to do. You drive through beautiful roads, admire beautiful cars on the roads and enjoy the freedom of being on that piece of concrete.
That is what most people probably think when they have not got their license. That could probably be how driving is like in somewhere else but definitely not Singapore. We do have a high number of inconsiderate and reckless drivers plying our roads; so many that more and more people are installing in car cameras to protect themselves. I am a very keen observer. After plying the roads for a year, I have summarised a list of common traffic offences and bad habits that Singaporean drivers have.
Here is the list, in no particular order:
1. Failure to Signal Intention
This is probably the most common thing you will see on our roads. Either they are too lazy / cannot be bothered, light bulbs so expensive to replace that they do not want to risk blowing the bulb or their cars did not come with signal indicators. Last time I checked, light bulbs are pretty cheap and you can get 1 from around S$2 which is less than the price of a litre of petrol and I have never seen any modern cars without the signal indicator installed. This boils down to the first reason of how they cannot be bothered to use it.
The signal indicator is there for a reason. It is a form of communication on the roads. You cannot be possibly expecting every Tom, Dick and Harry to be carrying loudhailers in their cars and shout out loud when they want to change lanes. Signalling is the "road language" for saying excuse me, please let me pass. I have spoken to several veteran drivers from all kinds of trades from taxi driver, delivery driver, bus driver, lorry driver and a private car owner. Most of them gave the reason for not signalling as Singaporeans are unwilling to give way when you signal and instead speed up in order to not let you into their lane. There must be a million dollar jackpot somewhere for not letting someone into your lane somewhere. I have yet to discover it. If you do, please let me know. This brings us to the second item on the list.
2. Refusal to Give Way
If you have refused to give way to anyone for whatever reason when you have the capacity to do so and still plan on doing it in the future, I would probably refer you to Google to let you search for the causes of illnesses, terminal diseases, death and maybe bankruptcy. There are probably no records of someone dying or whatsoever when they give way to another fellow motorist. It is not that you must give way in whatever situation you are in. If the situation do not allow, just proceed on but if possible, give way as much as possible. I feel the warmth in my heart whenever a fellow road user gives way to me when I clearly signal my intention or when I do the same back to them. The best gift you can get on the road is probably a heartfelt thank you (in road language, a raise of your hand) from the driver whom you have just helped to make their day better.
Many accidents happen due to one of the driver refusing to give way. One party might be a new driver and when he signals his intention with the car in the other lane still a far distance away, he gradually filters in only to have the other car speed up and collide into him. You may escape without injuries in a crash like this (maybe not so lucky for your car) but what if a life is involved? That person may be the only child or sole breadwinner of the family.
3. Speeding
This is also high on the list. In fact, I would say more people fall into this category than the other 2. On an arterial road, there is not really much space for you to speed seeing that the speed limit is 50-70km/h and traffic lights are closely spaced. However, the real "fun" comes when you hit the expressway. To do a simple test, just drive close to the speed limit on a nice day on any expressway on lane 2 (maybe minus the KPE and MCE due to the cameras and not many people dare to speed) and see how many cars will zoom past you on lane 1. To take the test further, try overtaking a slower vehicle (lane 1 is only for emergency vehicles and overtaking, if you have already forgotten what you learnt in BTT) on lane 1 when still driving at or below the speed limit. Soon, you will see a speed demon tailgating, high beaming or sounding his horn behind you. If you are lucky enough you may even get to see how long one of his fingers are.
We have the infamous Ferrari accident back in May 2012 when a Ferrari driven by a PRC national crashed into a taxi, killing himself, the taxi driver and the Japanese passenger. This accident probably remains the most high profile accident in Singapore ever and needs no more elaboration. While cases like this are fortunately rare, this is a very good example of how speeding can ruin the lives of innocent people.
While the list above does not sum up all of the bad habits of drivers in Singapore, it is more or less the more common ones we see on a daily basis. You would probably see at least 10 of each instance when driving on the PIE from east to west or vice versa.
Let's all work together to make Singapore a better place to drive in. By giving way to each other, it helps to make things faster and lessens the chance of a traffic accident which does no good to anyone.
While the list above does not sum up all of the bad habits of drivers in Singapore, it is more or less the more common ones we see on a daily basis. You would probably see at least 10 of each instance when driving on the PIE from east to west or vice versa.
Let's all work together to make Singapore a better place to drive in. By giving way to each other, it helps to make things faster and lessens the chance of a traffic accident which does no good to anyone.
