We're Better Off Being Scared On The Roads

I was in a taxi at a junction in Sengkang on a night last week. The light in our direction green and the driver accelerated gently. Suddenly, from a white car did a speedy, screechy right turn into the same road we were headed down. "Wah like that also can ah?!" exclaimed the taxi driver.

On Monday night, my colleague and I headed towards McCallum St, I to my yoga class at Telok Ayer and he to his car at a nearby building. Lo and behold, a car turned right at the junction in front of Bangkok Bank, into the direction of oncoming traffic. McCallum St is a one way street. I went "whoa" as the car sped by and into the back lane behind GB Building.

Last night, the SUV ahead of the taxi I was in did a right turn when the lights were red in our direction.

Most mornings I traverse a large junction in Sengkang to get to the train station. There are usually a few people who launched themselves into the crossing when the red man faces them, as it's green for traffic approaching sideways.

Risky business all this. For drivers and pedestrians alike. It seems like everyone is in some sort of hurry or need to get to an emergency somewhere. Quite unnecessary really given the consequences when things truly go wrong. The dumb Ferrari driver who was showing off to his girlfriend on Saturday morning didn't learn the lesson and in the worst way possible way lost his life and took the lives of 32 innocents as well. All because he thought he could speed past the red lights at 4am without consequences. Shameful and stupid.

I've told many people that drivers in Singapore are really bad at driving. Well many drivers are. They make the classic mistake of feeling adequately protected and safe in a metal shell which somehow becomes a tank trudging at 60mph down an expressway. Indestructible and aggressive. All that one doesn't learning in driving school.

Be defensive. It's fine. Give way. It's fine. Go a little slower. It's fine. Signal, for heaven's sake, signal. Plan ahead. Get a little scared and be safer, be safe. You're driving something that can kill. You and others around you.