Monday, October 12, 2009
A random Chapter 406
1. After my last post about Gripes and Grouses about the Traffic System in Singapore, I came across yet ANOTHER incident about the ridiculous system that we had. Weining got a summon for "Parking in the wrong direction." Like srsly, wtf? This happened at/near the parallel parking at Club Street, where he was deemed to have parked against the flow of traffic. Hmm. If you knew of this rule/law, raise your hand pls? Thought so... ;p (yes i see those quizzical looks on your faces). And it's a fine of $50! Next thing you know, we'll have fines for "Not parking perpendicularly to the road" or "Failure to align vehicle to the middle of parking lot."
2. Went to watch (500) Days of Summer! It was brilliant for a few reasons -
a. M1 had a 1-for-1 deal at Cathay on Sundays, so we only paid $10 for 2 tickets!
b. The plot and directing was pretty awesome! (I'm horrible at describing such stuff, and have limited vocabulary, but take it that i think it's really really good!) In fact, there's an article in Life! today that you should read. None of the cheesiness (except the ending line of the movie) of a romantic comedy, and very enjoyable. There was a scene where Joseph Gordon-Levitt breaks into a dance in the middle of the movie, which I just can't help thinking of the uncanny resemblance to a Bollywood movie... And various other quirkiness of the movie, that you can somehow relate to. "Honey, our tap is broken!" / "Penis!"
3. Tis' the exam season! Exams are here! My classes will take their papers tomorrow and Thursday! Judgement day! I hope they all do well, and pass with flying colours! (now, this has got to be the cheesiest line in this post. Looks like something i picked out of a primary school autograph book... hehe. "May you pass your PSLE with flying colours!" Though, sidetracking, that is unlikely to happen for this batch of P6 students, given how hard the Math paper was apparently supposed to be.) I shall be burdened by all the marking from tomorrow onwards... Red pens, check. Answer key, check.
2. Went to watch (500) Days of Summer! It was brilliant for a few reasons -
a. M1 had a 1-for-1 deal at Cathay on Sundays, so we only paid $10 for 2 tickets!
b. The plot and directing was pretty awesome! (I'm horrible at describing such stuff, and have limited vocabulary, but take it that i think it's really really good!) In fact, there's an article in Life! today that you should read. None of the cheesiness (except the ending line of the movie) of a romantic comedy, and very enjoyable. There was a scene where Joseph Gordon-Levitt breaks into a dance in the middle of the movie, which I just can't help thinking of the uncanny resemblance to a Bollywood movie... And various other quirkiness of the movie, that you can somehow relate to. "Honey, our tap is broken!" / "Penis!"
3. Tis' the exam season! Exams are here! My classes will take their papers tomorrow and Thursday! Judgement day! I hope they all do well, and pass with flying colours! (now, this has got to be the cheesiest line in this post. Looks like something i picked out of a primary school autograph book... hehe. "May you pass your PSLE with flying colours!" Though, sidetracking, that is unlikely to happen for this batch of P6 students, given how hard the Math paper was apparently supposed to be.) I shall be burdened by all the marking from tomorrow onwards... Red pens, check. Answer key, check.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Chapter 405 - Gripes about the Traffic System (Part I)
Unknowingly, the weekend is just around the corner, again! How nice it is, when the week has gone by so quickly. It's the start of the EOY exams today, and for me, it's a much more relaxed schedule. I have my 4 (+1) hours of teaching, cut to 1.5 hours of invigilation today, so I'm not complaining.
Anyway, I've been wanting to write a post about the Singapore Traffic system for the longest time, but I keep forgetting.
The Singapore Traffic System - Gripes and Grouses (Part I)
1. Not checking blindspots
Nowadays, I seem to be on the road quite a lot, plying the Tampines-Clementi express route. (Esther lives in Clementi. ;p) And quite often, I'm very disgusted (and this would still be an understatement) by how the other drivers are using the roads. For example, on the ECP just before Benjamin Sheares Bridge today, while I was on my way to Bras Basah, a red Honda Civic cut into my lane (I was on lane 3, i.e. 3rd lane from the right), having overtaken me on the right. Seriously, if you overtake someone, you'd expect that the person you overtook is still there right? And the car came dangerously close to me, and by dangerously close, I mean I could kick the car from my bike. And guess what, it was a lady driver.
Ok, before you accuse me of me anti-feminism, let me present to you yet another situation on my way home just now. On the PIE just before the Thomson exit, a white Subaru cut into my lane, without checking the blindspot, and AGAIN, it was a lady driver. Coincidence? Probably, though unlikely. ;p Women are supposed to have better peripheral vision though (source), but in this case, they need to physically turn their heads round to check their blindspots!
2. Roadhogging
Being on a motorbike, I get a better view of the road ahead on the expressway, given my elevated view. On a few occasions, I found that the fastest route, was taking the left-most lane. (and I'm not even trying to cheat by squeezing between lanes). The last time I checked, Singapore had not adopted a left-hand drive system, so how could it be that the leftmost lane is the fastest lane? Well, because there are vehicles hogging the other lanes! Seriously, roadhogging should be a summon-able offence! And sometimes roadhogging causes a tailback of cars, and you think that the traffic is heavy, but only because some idiot is talking on his mobile phone, and hogging the lane!
3. Of law-abiding policemen and unlawful citizens
We all know that in Singapore, everything is law-by-law. However, it's quite often the case that lawful citizens get summoned (on the roads), and the unlawful ones go scot-free. Why do I say so? A month back, a regulation came into place that said that if there were passengers sitting at the back of a truck/lorry, they cannot be sitting at a height above 1.2m or something. And then some 100+ drivers were summoned at various industrial areas, for flouting the regulations. I mean seriously, these drivers have been doing that for years, and you cannot implement the law, and expect everyone to abide right away. Plus, by preying on these drivers in these industrial areas, it's sort of like going for the "free-frags", preying on the weak. And while that is happening, drivers are still driving recklessly on the roads.
I also had a brush with the Traffic Police in May. On 1 May (Labour Day of all days), I was stopped by the traffic police, because my front 'P' plate had fallen off - the TP had overtaken me from behind, saw that I didn't have the P plate in front and stopped me. When I explained to him that I had replaced it on 2 occasions, at the cost of $7 each time, and they had both fallen off, and there was no place in Tampines selling sticker P plates (which won't fall off), he said he had to issue the summon, but advised me to submit an appeal for it. When I asked the officer when I could get sticker P plates, even he didn't know, and gave a generic, "Why don't you try Mustafa?" answer. How helpful. So I received the summon, and wrote in letters of appeal, 3 in total (you're allowed up to 3 appeals, if your 1st and 2nd one fails). All 3 times, they rejected the appeal, on the grounds that "The summon had been issued correctly." Like huh? Exactly why I'm appealing against it right? So anyway, I ended forking up $120 for the fine, which was the same amount if I had not put BOTH P plates, and if I had not put BOTH P plates, I'd probably not have been stopped by the TP, since he would have just overtaken me. How ironic.
Well, that's it for part I. Stay tuned (i'm not sure when) for the next edition, on Counter-Intuitive Traffic Lights, and ERP-not parking.
Anyway, I've been wanting to write a post about the Singapore Traffic system for the longest time, but I keep forgetting.
The Singapore Traffic System - Gripes and Grouses (Part I)
1. Not checking blindspots
Nowadays, I seem to be on the road quite a lot, plying the Tampines-Clementi express route. (Esther lives in Clementi. ;p) And quite often, I'm very disgusted (and this would still be an understatement) by how the other drivers are using the roads. For example, on the ECP just before Benjamin Sheares Bridge today, while I was on my way to Bras Basah, a red Honda Civic cut into my lane (I was on lane 3, i.e. 3rd lane from the right), having overtaken me on the right. Seriously, if you overtake someone, you'd expect that the person you overtook is still there right? And the car came dangerously close to me, and by dangerously close, I mean I could kick the car from my bike. And guess what, it was a lady driver.
Ok, before you accuse me of me anti-feminism, let me present to you yet another situation on my way home just now. On the PIE just before the Thomson exit, a white Subaru cut into my lane, without checking the blindspot, and AGAIN, it was a lady driver. Coincidence? Probably, though unlikely. ;p Women are supposed to have better peripheral vision though (source), but in this case, they need to physically turn their heads round to check their blindspots!
2. Roadhogging
Being on a motorbike, I get a better view of the road ahead on the expressway, given my elevated view. On a few occasions, I found that the fastest route, was taking the left-most lane. (and I'm not even trying to cheat by squeezing between lanes). The last time I checked, Singapore had not adopted a left-hand drive system, so how could it be that the leftmost lane is the fastest lane? Well, because there are vehicles hogging the other lanes! Seriously, roadhogging should be a summon-able offence! And sometimes roadhogging causes a tailback of cars, and you think that the traffic is heavy, but only because some idiot is talking on his mobile phone, and hogging the lane!
3. Of law-abiding policemen and unlawful citizens
We all know that in Singapore, everything is law-by-law. However, it's quite often the case that lawful citizens get summoned (on the roads), and the unlawful ones go scot-free. Why do I say so? A month back, a regulation came into place that said that if there were passengers sitting at the back of a truck/lorry, they cannot be sitting at a height above 1.2m or something. And then some 100+ drivers were summoned at various industrial areas, for flouting the regulations. I mean seriously, these drivers have been doing that for years, and you cannot implement the law, and expect everyone to abide right away. Plus, by preying on these drivers in these industrial areas, it's sort of like going for the "free-frags", preying on the weak. And while that is happening, drivers are still driving recklessly on the roads.
I also had a brush with the Traffic Police in May. On 1 May (Labour Day of all days), I was stopped by the traffic police, because my front 'P' plate had fallen off - the TP had overtaken me from behind, saw that I didn't have the P plate in front and stopped me. When I explained to him that I had replaced it on 2 occasions, at the cost of $7 each time, and they had both fallen off, and there was no place in Tampines selling sticker P plates (which won't fall off), he said he had to issue the summon, but advised me to submit an appeal for it. When I asked the officer when I could get sticker P plates, even he didn't know, and gave a generic, "Why don't you try Mustafa?" answer. How helpful. So I received the summon, and wrote in letters of appeal, 3 in total (you're allowed up to 3 appeals, if your 1st and 2nd one fails). All 3 times, they rejected the appeal, on the grounds that "The summon had been issued correctly." Like huh? Exactly why I'm appealing against it right? So anyway, I ended forking up $120 for the fine, which was the same amount if I had not put BOTH P plates, and if I had not put BOTH P plates, I'd probably not have been stopped by the TP, since he would have just overtaken me. How ironic.
Well, that's it for part I. Stay tuned (i'm not sure when) for the next edition, on Counter-Intuitive Traffic Lights, and ERP-not parking.
Labels: Singapore
