Should Singapore do away with traffic lights and signs, in a bid to rid the roads of virulent bad driving?
Counter-intuitive
as it sounds, such a move has borne results. In the Dutch town of
Drachten, removing street rules and directives resurrected road users'
"ability to be considerate", reported the late traffic guru Hans
Monderman, co-founder of the "naked streets" initiative.
In
recent months, concerns about unsafe driving habits here have been in
the spotlight, following the two Rochor Road junction crashes and a
string of cyclist deaths. Just this week, Law and Foreign Minister K
Shanmugam's Facebook post on his own close brushes broached the
question: Have our driving habits become worse?
More fundamentally, why?
IS IT CONGESTION?
One
could blame road congestion for fuelling the impatience manifested in
annoying traits such as tailgating, cavalier honking and lane-weaving.
Or it may be that there is "too much construction with confusing
diversions", as one respondent to our poll said.
But there are
other cities with worse traffic snarls, like New York, Bangkok or Ho Chi
Minh, yet seldom does one witness the aggressive "retaliation" seen
here.
Private driving instructor KC, who frequently travels to
Jakarta (another city with perpetual jams), said drivers there are a lot
more "civilised" even though traffic conditions are much worse. "As
long as they can brake in time and there's no accident, it's okay. They
don't speed up and show you the middle finger just because you (honk) or
move into their lane," he said.
ME FIRST
Rather, many drivers interviewed by TODAY feel the problem is a self-centred attitude behind the wheel.
Full-time
national serviceman Josh Lim, who holds a driving licence and cycles on
roads, said there is a sense of "what's mine is mine", hence the
reluctance to give way. "It's about 'I want to get home first' or 'get
off the roads because you don't belong here'."
Another private
driving instructor, who declined to be named, said he frequently
encounters drivers who speed up when they see his students signalling to
switch lanes. "Just a few seconds' difference, but cannot. Maybe they
think it's 'lose face'."
Ms Joyce Phua, a private tutor, added that "sometimes it's easier if I don't signal".
Ironically, being sticklers for the letter of the law could be causing us to throw manners out the window.
"If
you hit someone from behind, you are at fault straight away; doesn't
matter what the driver in front did," Mr KC said, adding that there are
no explicit laws against bad habits like not signalling.
Some
agree it makes drivers almost "self-righteous", citing the example of
road hogs who don't give way when they see that other cars want to
overtake. "They think they don't need to give way just because they are
not doing anything 'wrong'," said banker Andy Lim, 29.
The knock-on effect? A frustrated driver may retaliate.
Cabby
Tan S H, 48, recalls one incident when the driver behind began flashing
his headlights furiously from "at least 100 metres away". And just as
Mr Tan was about to give way, the car swerved and passed him on the
left, the driver gesturing menacingly.
He then cut back in front
of Mr Tan's taxi and started "braking on and off until our speed was
about 60kmh in the first lane", the cabby recalled. "I almost knocked
into him a few times."
STICK OR MORE CARROTS?
Several of
those who commented on Mr Shanmugam's Facebook post on Monday, like
Adeline Wong, feel that "enforcement is seldom seen nowadays".
Businessman Tay Seng Quan said this makes errant drivers bolder as
there's a belief that "getting caught is a low risk".
"After some time, people 'monkey see monkey do', so you get more bad driving habits," said the 53-year-old.
TODAY
asked the police about this perception of fewer traffic cops on the
roads but they were unable to comment by press time. Singapore Road
Safety Council Secretariat Senior Manager Mark Chow, however, pointed
out that "traffic police can't be everywhere all the time".
Other than the calls to step up enforcement or make penalties stiffer, are there out-of-the-box solutions worth pondering over?
Recruitment
specialist Jacee Liau suggests rewarding good behaviour instead.
Although motorists currently enjoy rebates to their insurance premiums
for every consecutive year they do not make claims (up to 50 per cent),
this "reward" does not directly encourage good driving habits or
gracious behaviour.
There could be "mystery" traffic cops going
around year-round, spotting "model drivers" and rewarding them with
"merit points", the 28-year-old suggests. When a driver accumulates a
certain number of points, he gets a cash reward or a rebate on the road
tax.
The difficulty to this idea, obviously, is the huge deployment of manpower resources.
MANDATORY REFRESHERS
Businessman
Eng Yi Yuan, 29, suggested lowering speed limits on expressways during
peak hours, citing how the speed cameras along the Kallang-Paya Lebar
Expressway tunnels "work wonders". "When everyone is stuck at a lower
speed, no one is in a position to get into accidents. There's no
excessive acceleration, so no sudden braking."
Another oft-made
call is for periodic refresher courses, as driving instructor KC noted:
"Very often, you see that the serious accidents involve seasoned
drivers, not new ones. So it's not a skill problem, but complacency."
Some
still feel more emphasis should be placed on new drivers: Make it more
difficult to get a licence, and have a yearly re-assessment by the
traffic police for the first three years.
Mr Eng said drivers
should be made to sit through a lecture before they can renew their road
tax. "You show pictures of traffic accidents in the past year, analysis
of how inconsiderate driving leads to accidents, and interviews with
victims saying how their lives have been affected," he said. "You might
not be able to influence everyone but it should improve things."
Other
discourteous driving habits, such as road-hogging by slow-moving or
heavy vehicles - often driven by foreigners - should be addressed. Some
feel that those holding foreign licences should re-sit the driving test,
rather than be allowed to convert their licence by passing a basic
theory test.
USE VIDEO FOOTAGE
As more car-owners are
installing mobile cameras in their vehicles, one view is that the
authorities should consider a whistle-blowing channel. Making sure any
driver can "weed out" bad hats would keep most on their toes.
Still,
there are those like accountant Betty Lim who feel that
"self-regulation" is the only way. "Until we become a country that
appreciates tolerance, no amount of fine or demerit points will change
the way we drive," she said.
Indeed, as the Drachten experiment -
since replicated in several European cities, including Ejby, Denmark;
Ipswich, England; and Ostende, Belgium - shows, "common-sense" driving,
by way of friendly gestures, head nods and eye contact, could be most
effective.
Unsafe could be safer, as Mr Monderman put it: "The
many rules strip us of the most important ability - the ability to be
considerate. The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's
sense of personal responsibility dwindles." While it would be unfeasible
to roll out such an urban experiment island-wide, perhaps a pilot in a
small neighbourhood could surprise us with its results. - TODAY