Inabilities of Singapore Drivers
Given mum and dad's frequent travels; I've recently had the pleasure of being able to drive to work more often. It also helps that I've registered mum's car IU number in the office carpark, which gives me free access and convenient parking.
Is it my imagination or are there more traffic jams these days? More accidents? More ill-tempered drivers who drive recklessly with the "I own the road attitude"? I've nailed it down to 3 basic things that the drivers of this country essentially either don't know, or forgot how to do. These are:
- Inability to stop at stop signs
- Inability to signal
- Inability to keep a safe distance behind another car
Inability to stop at stop signs
I was in California, US recently and was amazed at how drivers there actually bring the car to a complete stop at a stop sign - even when it was very late at night and traffic was very light. And suddenly it occurred to me, "hey, I remember reading something like that in our highway code book - we have the same rules!". But stand near any junction in Singapore and actually watch how our local drivers behave - it's more of a roll your car out (way over the stop line) and then have a quick glance, and hopefully not get whacked by an oncoming vehicle. More often than not, there are road bumps placed on the road doesn't have the stop sign to slow those cars down - it makes sense to a certain degree, but is not necessary if drivers obey the stop sign.
Inability to signal
Signaling consistently is a rare art these days. In fact, a driver should not, unless completely necessary, let other drivers on the road know their real intentions (filtering especially) less they speed up in order to cut us off. Signaling results in others not giving way - imagine. The selfish (aka competitive) culture in which we live calls for us to deliberately cut other people off and not let them get in front so we do not arrive 3 seconds later at our destination. And so, we turn at junctions, filter on highways, stop at road sides, without a clue on how to properly use our indicators - and who are we putting at risk? Ourselves. Others are unaware of what our intentions are - accidents result. Stationary cars get hit on the roadside, people get injured. I think it goes back to our Asian inability to communicate properly and openly.
Inability to keep a safe distance behind another car
Is there any real benefit to following another car very closely? Will it make the car in front go any faster? Besides testing ones own reaction on the brakes, wearing out your brake pads and looking like an idiot to other drivers, it serves completely no purpose. Given our "inability to give way to others in the fast lane" (not elaborated here), there are some drivers who are perpetually "glued" to the right lane the moment they get on the highway - so look for other alternatives instead of trying to kiss his bumper. As it is in life, there will always be obstacles in your way - find another way around it and move on. Are we really in a big rush when we drive? Is there always a life-or-death situation that we need to hurry to? Or do we just need to go fast for no reason at all? Think about it – is there really a need to speed – or are we just speeding to our deaths?
In a sentence, the inabilities of drivers here is not just about bad driving skills but reflects a deeper attitude in life of our lack of brotherhood, totally selfishness and short-sightedness in living for the common good. Our “it’s only about me” mindset cuts to the very root of the problem and is the core of our failure to behave like the mature adults we think we are. How are we to raise our children if we cannot give them the right living examples? We need to grow up to show them how they should grow up.