- Joined
- Aug 20, 2022
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I am disappointed that K. Shanmugam is promoted
Considering that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has oversight of Traffic Police (TP) and that Shanmugam has been heading MHA since 2015, news of his promotion makes me displeased with Lawrence Wong.
To me, it doesn't matter if he did well in other areas. IMHO, that's like scoring an A in all other subjects except the one compulsory subject. FATALITIES means people die.
Were some of those accidents preventable? i.e. not caused by drink drivers? 11 years on the job but it is only recently that drink driving penalties are being proposed to be harsher than before? Wasn't it obvious all along that drink-driving is not an "accident"?
Anyways, look at the state of our roads nowadays.
Let's pick one issue out of many: Do you see vehicles yielding to pedestrians when pedestrians have the right of way? Today, when you cross a signalized crossing, observe whether drivers wait for you to finish crossing. As long as the green man is on, drivers must yield to you if their path cuts across your front.
Some don’t even bother at signalized crossings, so it’s no surprise they ignore zebra crossings as well.
I believe the lack of recourse for pedestrians - because we don't carry bodycams - is the reason why I am seeing more of such drivers. Therefore, I blame K. Shanmugam because he has the powers to make things better since long ago.
I think it's too late now even with new penalties coming soon as bad habits are difficult to break.
