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S'pore driving 'behaviour' not permitted in other countries - reader
I am a Dutch national who is a permanent resident here, and have lived and worked in Singapore for the past 26 years.
I have three young boys aged between six and nine, all Singaporeans, and I can empathise with the parents of the two boys killed in Monday's accident ("Two young brothers die in road accident"; Tuesday).
Singapore's driving standards and styles evolved in an inward-looking manner, and include driving behaviour that is not permitted in Western Europe and elsewhere - for good reason.
I attribute most accidents involving Singaporean drivers in the United States, Australia and New Zealand to the different driving standards and behaviour in Singapore and these countries.
In Singapore, pedestrians and cyclists are considered to be not part of the traffic and, hence, have no right to be on the road, let alone right of way.
In Holland, all turning traffic has to give way to traffic that is going straight and, yes, cars have to give way to pedestrians and cyclists.
In Singapore, where a pavement is interrupted by a road and there is no pedestrian crossing, people have to give way to oncoming cars.
The rights of pedestrians here are often infringed upon by drivers in a rush, even when the "green man" signal is on.
Then there is the "speedway road traffic model" here, where drivers overtake from the left.
Yet another bad habit of drivers here is overtaking other cars and maintaining their speed before suddenly exiting the road
they are on.
The safer way is to slow down, get to the start of the exit lane and exit behind other road users.
Finally, there are drivers who cut into your lane suddenly, even when there is not enough space to do so. They do signal their intention, and seem to think this permits them to filter ahead of you.
I was taught in Holland that before filtering and mchanging lanes ahead of another road user, one must be able to see that car in one's rear-view mirror.
If one can do so, it means there is enough space between the two cars for filtering.
-The Straits Times
I am a Dutch national who is a permanent resident here, and have lived and worked in Singapore for the past 26 years.
I have three young boys aged between six and nine, all Singaporeans, and I can empathise with the parents of the two boys killed in Monday's accident ("Two young brothers die in road accident"; Tuesday).
Singapore's driving standards and styles evolved in an inward-looking manner, and include driving behaviour that is not permitted in Western Europe and elsewhere - for good reason.
I attribute most accidents involving Singaporean drivers in the United States, Australia and New Zealand to the different driving standards and behaviour in Singapore and these countries.
In Singapore, pedestrians and cyclists are considered to be not part of the traffic and, hence, have no right to be on the road, let alone right of way.
In Holland, all turning traffic has to give way to traffic that is going straight and, yes, cars have to give way to pedestrians and cyclists.
In Singapore, where a pavement is interrupted by a road and there is no pedestrian crossing, people have to give way to oncoming cars.
The rights of pedestrians here are often infringed upon by drivers in a rush, even when the "green man" signal is on.
Then there is the "speedway road traffic model" here, where drivers overtake from the left.
Yet another bad habit of drivers here is overtaking other cars and maintaining their speed before suddenly exiting the road
they are on.
The safer way is to slow down, get to the start of the exit lane and exit behind other road users.
Finally, there are drivers who cut into your lane suddenly, even when there is not enough space to do so. They do signal their intention, and seem to think this permits them to filter ahead of you.
I was taught in Holland that before filtering and mchanging lanes ahead of another road user, one must be able to see that car in one's rear-view mirror.
If one can do so, it means there is enough space between the two cars for filtering.
-The Straits Times
