04 May 2006

Singapore Car Drivers

Singapore car drivers have got to be among the very worst in the world. Sure they may not honk as much as the drivers in China but they are worse due to their selfishness and their lack of courtesy. Sure the Singapore roads are not nearly as congested as Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok but that's in no way thanks to the drivers.

It's pretty easy to see. They will never ever allow someone else into their lanes even when it's much easier to do so. They'd rather squeeze past the other car and possibly risk an accident than to do the right thing.

They might think this makes them weak and it hurts their egos. Or maybe they think that paying the COE entitles them to be the kings of the road - but guess what? all other car drivers in Singapore have paid the COE too. Watch them in action on the rare roads with two-way traffic or in the HDB carparks and you will see the king-of-the-road attitude again.

It's not like the roads in Singapore are very congested, a simple act of courtesy along their way home would cost them 5 seconds at the most but yet it's not done.

I have been to Bangkok where the jams are world famous and even in all this mayhem, you can see drivers allowing others to switch to their lanes without a fuss or a honk. Which leads me to the conclusion that it's got everything to do with the people's mentality.

Singaporeans need humility. It's too bad the only way they can understand this is when they get involved in accidents, get mugged in Malaysia or when there's a tragedy happening.

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