Thursday, July 05, 2007

give way lah

one of the things in singapore i have always been surprised by is the driver's unwillingness to give way to an emergency vehicle (i.e. - ambulance / police car).

in the states, you HAVE to pull over to the side of the road to let such a vehicle through. it's against the law otherwise. in fact, these vehicles are allowed to run red lights, and people on either sides of the roads are obliged to stop for them...simply because it only happens in an EMERGENCY.

i know what some of you are gonna say..."aiyah, some of these people abuse their powers lah"...but what's 1 minute (or even 5 minutes) of your time, compared to someone who's losing blood by the second? what if it was your mom or dad who had been in an accident? would you wanna be the one to say "who cares, he might be bluffing"?

anyway, what led to this outburst was an incident this afternoon...

i heard on the radio that there had been an accident at the marymount lane and lornie road junction...just as i reached lornie road.

a few seconds later, i saw a police car with sirens and strobelights blaring in my rear view mirror, so i gave way to the white wrx, which zoomed past the skymobile.

ten seconds after that, he got stuck in traffic.



i mean, he was really stuck in traffic. the cars in the centre lane obviously didn't bother to either: 1. give way to let the cars in front of the police car shift over to the left so that the police car can go through, or 2. stop and give way to the police car. instead, it was bumper to bumper stuff.



just look at that black lancer...i have come to think that his grandfather owns lornie road. bastard.



this kinda got me boiled, so i cut into the centre lane, and just stopped...



and to those idiots honking behind...fuck you.



the police car eventually managed to wiggle his way through to the accident site...which involved a lorry overturned on it's side...and a taxi. i don't even need to tell you who's fault it was cuz i think you know already.

no, i didn't take pictures of the accident cuz i think it'd be disrespectful to the occupants in the lorry...and no, i didn't take down the license plate numbers either cuz i don't believe in making money from other people's tragedies.

speaking of which, the jam on the OPPOSITE side of the road was quite frightening as well...you all know what i'm talking about.

moral of the story: get the hell out of the way when you hear a siren and see flashing blue lights behind you. don't be selfish.

(p.s. - if the traffic police are reading this, please don't include it in the "courtesy driving campaign" crap that you're doing now...why should you be rewarded to do something that you should natually be doing once you possess a driver's license? as if any of these campaigns work in the first place...fine the offenders lah! make new laws lah! this is one area that i think you should copy the americans.)

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nb, u trying to get driver of the year award ah?

BTW, u broke the law too...no using of HP in anyway while driving. heh!

Blur Ting said...

I so agree with you. I saw this ambulance flashing with sirens and all behind this lady driver on the PIE. I couldn't believe she didn't give way at all for a long long time... either she was oblivious to the whole thing (which is driving unconsciously) or simply worried that if she gives way, she doesn't know how to get back onto the fast lane.

miss ene said...

I was actually surprised to see a whole row of cars give way to a wailing/flashing lights ambulance on the CTE once during rush hour. I was SERIOUSLY impressed that all these cars were moving ASIDE to let that ambulance pass.

Have you seen those drivers who, instead of moving to the next lane and giving way, drive FASTER? That just grates me.

petit anges said...

its does really make perfect sense for a SG road courtesy campaign?? already given up hope driving in this place we call HOME..

Anonymous said...

you did great man! those who were honking behind you are IDIOTS

Lyn said...

geez, so many accidents... 2 of my colleagues kena accidents today... fortunately only slight bruised.

Anonymous said...

singapore has wrx police cars? that's pretty sweet.

yes, give way... give way!!!!

Anonymous said...

general statement: upgrade taxi drivers driving manners

too many accidents with them lor..

Anonymous said...

I so agree with you..
I have sent quite a few patients to the hospital and everytime you can see cars refusing to filter away from the lane the ambulance is going. Instead they choose to speed up, ignoring the fact that the ambulance can travel as fast as them.. Worse still when there is a traffic jam, they just cut for their own benefit leaving the ambulance to resort to the rd shoulder to move..

Elia Diodati said...

In the US, everyone is *required* to pull over on the side and make room for emergency vehicles when their sirens are on. Or at least to try.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they should make giving way during emergencies as part and parcel of the driving test using surprise mock-up situations.

Guaranteed to shift out selfish drivers and people will remember it as essential as stopping at the red light.

Anonymous said...

lol, self-pwning pics

Anonymous said...

hoegarden,...driver sis not state that he was using HP (handphone/hewlitt packard?) He just using a camera.

pubed...Wat is self pwn? Is it like "pubed self pwn his stupidity?"

Anonymous said...

I'm all for giving way to emergency vehicles. But on the contrary, have you noticed a trend recently, whereby ambulances especially switch on their strobe lights even though they're not in an emergency?

I think it's misleading to drivers, that they appear to be in a hurry, yet remain at cruising speeds.

Nevertheless, Singaporean drivers still have a long way to go.

moby sky said...

nette...i think this article was written for people like you. seriously, if you have doubts about these kinda ambulance drivers, why don't you stop one of them and check? let me know hor.

Anonymous said...

Well, thank you for being irate enough to ramble on this issue. The majority of Singaporeans don't give a damn and that will be the way it goes. In Singapore, being selfish is a fundamental attribute and not a choice that can be avoided.

For the typical Singaporean, being morally responsible only matters when it's a family member in distress. Otherwise, it's the sensible thing to take advantage of any situation that can get you to your destination the fastest - no matter who else dies.

Welcome To Singapore Inc!

Anonymous said...

i m quite puzzle with nette's comments about "ambulances especially switch on their strobe lights even though they're not in an emergency?"

from what i understand, ambulance should turn on their strobe lights when there are patients in it. and they can on their siren if that is an emergency case.

however even in emergency, ambulance also has to comply with a set of their traffic rules eg. no speeding etc....

cheahk said...

Here in the US, the lanes are much wider, and some roads have an emergency lane for emergency vehicles to use. To think that in Singapore, where the road tax is so high and so much funds are collected via the various taxes (ERP, petrol tax, car tax, etc), that a simple emergency lane isn't provided at all. You do not need to have a "full lane" for the emergency vehicles. Even a "half lane" to make it easier for other cars to move to the side of their lane to give way is good enough.

Anonymous said...

The only reason why I mentioned that in the above post, is that I've been noticing a lot of ambulances switching on their strobe lights AND cruising in the center lane.

My understanding is that: strobe light switched on = emergency = need to get to hospital asap. But center lane? Cruising?

No offense, but don't act like some sort of a moral saint when we all know that these people take advantage their vehicles.

Remember, it's a privilege, not a prerogative.

Anonymous said...

well it is completely normal for an ambulance to cruise at center lane when there is someone broken their legs or hands, read: "not life threatening", hence not considered emergency.

and as i'd said, it is common for them to on their strobe light when there is someone in there.

to deem them as not emergency just because they are cruising at normal speed along center lane is a bit far-fetch.

and lastly, i don't share the opinion of it is a privilege to them for the strobe lights or sirens or whatever... it is to me, their right (of way) for whatever circumtances they may be in.

Anonymous said...

With this, I only have to comment that most if not all Singaporeans have to go for re-education on road driving skills and courtesy.I mean when is it that we dun see taxi drivers behaving like they own the road? They can stop right in front of you after cutting through 3 lanes and still act blur. When is it that we do not see drivers driving at speed limit or below speed limit on the OVERTAKING LANE of the expressway? If you do keep a close watch on the roads, you will see what i mean.

Personally, I ride a bike. my bike is equiped with a simple device, at the tip of the handle bars, are some very sharp & rough aluminium balancers. The idea is, you dun step on the accelerator or give way after i flash you in the back, get a fresh coat of paint.

At this point maybe you think i am overly bengz or tyrant, but sorry, this is Singapore. It's such a good country that rich people always wins. No point reasoning with them or getting into a brawl cos they can get super-lawyers to help them win their case.

Anonymous said...

He didnt break the law.

For the offence of handphone driving to stand, ALL the following 3 conditions must be fulfilled:

(a) the vehicle is in motion; and

(b) the driver is holding on to the handphone with one hand; while his other hand is holding the steering wheel and

(c) the driver is communicating with any person with that handphone.

[Para 2(b) : If the driver is not holding on to the steering wheel at all, he can be charged for reckless or dangerous driving. Upon conviction, first-time offenders can be fined up to S$3000/-, or jailed for a term up to 12 months, or both. Repeat offenders are liable for a maximum fine of S$5000/-, or to imprisonment for a term up to 2 years, or both. In addition, they may also be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence.]

[Para 2(c) includes making phone calls, paging for someone, receiving a call by pressing the keypad, and reading, writing or sending SMS.]