SINGAPORE: Several recent road accidents have garnered a considerable amount of public attention and rightfully so.

One resulted in the death of a 19-year-old university student after the taxi she was in collided with a car.

This accident even prompted netizens to start a petition to the LTA to disallow discretionary turning when the traffic light is in motorists’ favour, given the growth in sizes of junctions

The other involved a lorry that had mounted a kerb, collided into railings before “surging forward” and hitting three pedestrians and a stationary bus outside Yio Chu Kang bus interchange.

The three pedestrians died.

The lorry driver has since been charged with dangerous driving causing death and could be jailed for up to five years if he is convicted.

This drew the ire of netizens who overwhelming commented that the penalty is too light.

Indeed, harsher punishments and a relook at traffic rules might be in order.

But one other issue to consider is the fact that our attitudes go a long way to determine our behaviour on the roads.  

MESSAGES DON’T SEEM TO STICK

We often express deep sorrow when the stories of victims of road accidents make the news.

We express horror at recklessness on the roads and proceed to condemn those responsible.

But many of us also go out on the roads thereafter and continue with reckless behaviour or take safety for granted.

For several years, online forums have been peppered with stories of our questionable driving habits.

Road hogging, tailgating, not signalling when changing lanes, speeding, being distracted while driving, engaging in brinkmanship, refusing to give way to other vehicles – the list seems interminable. 

Sometimes, it is a case of poor etiquette. 

For example, there are still reports of drivers not yielding even for ambulances and fire trucks. 

Social media communities dedicated to disseminating videos of bad driving etiquette and and fatal road accidents have emerged.

With footage that shows the impact of recklessness in sometimes graphic fashion, the hope is that these would drive home the message of road safety more effectively. 

But sometimes, all this does is bring on a few moments of reflection after which caution is thrown to the wind once again as we fall back into contending with others on our roads.

ALL USERS ARE RESPONSIBLE

Several surveys have shown that road users generally perceive their fellow drivers to be aggressive and impatient.   

It’s not just drivers who seem to have issues.

Recently the Traffic Police (TP) revealed that every month, they encounter about 800 cases of not just drivers, but passengers too who fail to belt up in a flagrant violation of the law.

Taxi drivers tell me that sometimes getting their passengers to belt up is akin to pulling teeth.

Those who refuse to do so say they worry that the seat belt would ruin their clothes.

This is in spite of the fines associated with not belting up and the driver attempting to point out to them that pristine clothing is not going to serve them in a serious accident.

Many cabbies also complain of customers who pressure them to speed.

Others point out that with so many people having developed an unhealthy attachment to their phones, distracted pedestrians are increasingly becoming a problem.

What about private hire car drivers? Many claim they seem unusually distracted by navigation systems on their phones, a problem that could be easily fixed if they made an effort to familiarise themselves with routes and exercised some sensibility when choosing their moments to refer to their phones. 

These days, reckless users of bicycles and personal mobility devices are also complicating matters on not just roads, but footpaths as well.

Safety is a serious issue so why don’t we treat it as such?

DO WE NEED EVEN MORE MEASURES?

TP statistics show that last year, roads were safer compared to the year before. There were fewer road traffic accidents. The number of fatal accidents and fatalities fell to an all-time low. There were also fewer accidents related to drink-driving, speeding and red-light running.

However, recent cases have demonstrated yet again that even one accident is one too many.

To inculcate good driving and riding behaviour, the TP has introduced simulation training to allow learner motorists to practise defensive driving and riding.

Next year, simulation training will be made compulsory for all learner motorists.

The TP’s Online Learning Portal also provides existing and learner motorists with the ability to access traffic rules and other useful information.

Other measures include The Safe Driving Course which was introduced in November 2015. It’s a voluntary programme for motorists who have accumulated half of the maximum allowable demerit points before getting a suspension, to improve their driving behaviour.

Aside from educational initiatives, enforcement action in some areas has been stepped up.

Among the measures introduced in recent years are portable speed laser cameras which are battery operated and can be deployed within a week and new cameras that record the time a vehicle takes to travel between two points hence gauging speeding behaviour more accurately.  

Many drivers tell me that these measures help, but there’s nothing like more police presence on the roads to keep drivers in check.

Others have said another key issue is getting newcomers to Singapore to adapt to the road culture here and respect safety and rules.

Perhaps conditions for license conversion need to be more stringent.

While licences for heavy vehicles cannot be converted and one must enrol in a driving school and pass driving tests before one can drive such vehicles here, heavy vehicle drivers are also disproportionately represented in traffic accident statistics.

Being paid on a per-trip basis influences some of them to speed, so some experts have called for a change to their remuneration terms.

Certainly, making some concrete changes could influence behaviour.

But this raises another issue – the inordinate amount of finger pointing that ensues when heavy vehicle accidents are reported.

Bearing in mind their larger mass and blind spots, shouldn’t we consider our own behaviour in the traffic dynamic where it concerns such vehicles and for that matter, others too?

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S ROAD

Individual attitudes are a key predictor of behaviour so perhaps it’s time to reflect.

The Use Your Roadsense movement was launched in 2015 by TP.

Its aim was to spark self-reflection, raise empathy and respect for other road users.

Through social media and engagement sessions, the hope that highlighting the importance of road safety and illustrating what fellow road users experience when we are reckless will have a positive impact on our psyche and behaviour.

Many are often sceptical about such efforts and say that nothing short of extremely harsh penalties or a close shave would change behaviour for the better.

But let’s not wait until then.

Perhaps regular mandatory refresher courses for existing drivers would go further to improve the awareness of and attitudes towards road safety. 

Some might say road safety should be a matter of common sense and even if you don’t care for the safety of others, enlightened self-interest should stimulate positive behaviour.

The roads are not the place to be reckless, impatient or to show others who’s boss.

But many observe that road users, including pedestrians, often seem to be irrationally overcome by an illusion of invincibility and act like they own the roads.

Many only behave if they think they might be caught by cameras or TP officers on the roads. 

Suggestions such as more police visibility, a relook at traffic rules, traffic light design and harsher penalties for traffic offences might help, but perhaps one key solution is as simple as realising that we are not invincible and that whichever road we’re on is not our “grandfather’s road”.

Bharati Jagdish is the host of Channel NewsAsia Digital News’ hard-hitting On The Record, a weekly interview with thought leaders across Singapore, and The Pulse, Channel NewsAsia’s weekly podcast that discusses the hottest issues of the week.

SINGAPORE: A Land Transport Authority (LTA) car on Thursday (Apr 26) mounted a kerb and crashed into a power supply box before hitting a tree along Kranji Way. 

Photos being circulated online showed a mangled power supply box and the damaged car. The accident also involved a minibus owned by the Kranji Countryside Association of Singapore. 

The police were alerted to the incident at 2.30pm and investigations are ongoing. 

A driver and a passenger were on the minibus and no injuries were reported, the police said. There were no passengers in the LTA car.

SINGAPORE: Five Singaporeans and three Malaysians were arrested and more than 5,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized in an operation on Tuesday (April 24). 

Six were arrested at a motor workshop at Kaki Bukit Avenue 4 and the other two were nabbed at Woodlands Checkpoint as they were about to leave the country, said Singapore Customs in a news release on Thursday. 

The suspects are aged between 21 and 59. 

The arrests took place after officers raided the motor workshop, which was believed to be used as a “storage and distribution point for duty-unpaid cigarettes”, the news release said. 

A total of 5,120 cartons and four packets of cigarettes were recovered from the workshop as well as a Singapore-registered truck that was parked in it. The total amount of duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded amounted to about S$440,000 and S$32,000, respectively. 

Officers also seized the truck as well as two Malaysia-registered cars that were believed to be used to deliver duty-unpaid cigarettes to different parts of Singapore. 

Investigations are ongoing.

“Buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, having in possession or dealing with duty-unpaid goods are serious offences under the Customs Act and the GST Act,” said the media release. 

“Offenders will be severely dealt with. They can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded and/or jailed for up to six years.”

SINGAPORE: Buses passing through Tuas Checkpoint will soon undergo an X-ray scan as part of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority’s (ICA) plans to implement “future-ready” checkpoints.

Two radiographic scanners have been installed at Tuas Checkpoint and will be in operation by the second half of this year, said ICA during a media briefing on Thursday (Apr 26).

The installation of the bus scanners is part of the Ministry of Home Affair’s plan to beef up its technological infrastructure, announced during Budget this year.

HOW IT WORKS

Buses coming into Tuas Checkpoint will first allow passengers to alight at a new disembarking area.

Bus drivers will then move their buses through an X-ray scanner which will make a detailed image of the vehicle instantly. However, the scan will exclude the driver’s area for safety reasons. ICA said that the radiation drivers will be exposed to is minimal and far less than the amount they could be subject to for body scans.

This image is relayed to an image analysis office and will be examined by officers for concealed contraband cigarettes, drugs, prohibited weapons or explosives.

Without the scanners, officers have to inspect the buses visually. This means that they have to lift open floorboards and look out for modified compartments.

“The buses are trying more and more ingenious ways to pack more and more cigarettes,” said Assistant Commissioner (AC) Colin Tan.

He added that these methods could also be used to conceal explosives. 

“We want that assurance that whatever’s coming in is not an explosive-laden bus. When you have a bus that size and you’re able to pack in that amount of explosives, it can cause a major disruption,” he said.

The bus lanes and scanning portals will be made free of officers. Officers who were previously in charge of boarding buses to do visual checks have been re-trained to perform X-ray image analysis. Each X-ray image is also tagged to a vehicle and stored, and can be used as intelligence to help officers in targeted checks. 

Bus lanes at Tuas Checkpoint will also be expanded from two to four lanes, with two scanners that will each serve two lanes. Both scanners will be able to scan up to 1,000 buses a day, within the expected daily volume of buses.

While ICA declined to say whether the new security changes will result in a longer waiting period, AC Tan said that the bus scan will happen concurrently while passengers are passing through immigration clearance. 

“So what we’re trying to do is that when possible, by the time the last passenger clears immigration, we want the bus to be waiting for the passenger at that point,” AC Tan said. 

BAGGAGE CHECKS TO BE BROUGHT FORWARD BEFORE CUSTOMS CLEARANCE

ICA is also making changes to its passenger clearance process by bringing the baggage checks forward.

Passengers will have to go through security checks involving walk-through metal detectors and X-ray screening before clearing immigration. Currently, this step is being done after immigration clearance. 

This will also be implemented by the second half of this year, said ICA.

ICA said that the change is for security reasons, one of which is to mitigate the impact of an armed attack.

“What we’ve done is we’ve put the screening up front so whoever goes through, at least we know with certainty … you are cleared. If he’s armed or he’s got a knife, we can contain it there,” Mr Tan said.

He added that deploying armed officers to guard the Tuas bus hall is challenging because of its size. 

SINGAPORE: A group of army medics have drawn praise after stopping to help four children and a school van driver in a traffic accident along Mandai Avenue on Wednesday morning (Apr 25).

The police were alerted to an accident along Mandai Avenue towards Sembawang Road at about 6.40am.

A 14-year-old boy was taken conscious to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, while another three children aged between 10 and 12 were taken conscious to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Servicemen from the combat medic specialist course of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Training Institute were on their way to an outfield exercise when they came across the incident at around 6.40am, according to a Facebook post by the Singapore Army. 

ME3 Ng Jaan Woei “immediately decided to stop the convoy” after “seeing the four children crying and the driver at the side of the road”, according to the Singapore Army.

Along with 3SG Delwin Tay Yong Xi, he attended to the students and driver, including one boy who had a “bad cut” on his forehead and cuts on his legs “due to shattered glass from the school van”.

Another boy had a cut on his forehead and his left elbow, according to the Singapore Army. 

Meanwhile, ME2 Muhammad Zulhilmi led a group of trainees and instructors to help remove a fallen lamp-post at the scene that was causing traffic congestion, so that emergency services could get there more quickly.

Photos of the incident showed a fallen lamp-post lying across one lane of the road. 

The Singapore Army said it “would like to wish the children a speedy recovery and commend our servicemen for being ready to step forward”.

3SG Tay said that his role as an army medic also extended towards caring for civilians. 

“I’m a medic, and I know I need to get my job done,” he said in the Singapore Army post. “My job is to treat the ones who sustained injuries and take down information so that there will be a smooth transition from us to the doctors.”

Police investigations into the accident are ongoing.

SINGAPORE: Staff of the Singapore Zoo gathered to say their goodbyes to Inuka the polar bear in a private memorial on Thursday (Apr 26).

About 400 employees, wearing shades of white and blue, were present at the amphitheatre facing Inuka’s now empty enclosure to reminisce and celebrate his long life.

The 27-year-old male polar bear was put down “on humane grounds” on Wednesday morning, after a second health examination in three weeks showed his welfare had been “seriously compromised” and would only “deteriorate further”, said Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which manages the zoo.

There was barely a dry eye in the amphitheatre as deputy head keeper and one of Inuka’s primary caregivers Mohan Ponichamy talked at length about the polar bear’s playful nature and antics. Many keepers and staff had their heads bowed and were seen wiping away tears.

Behind him, a bouquet of white and purple orchids had been placed on the rock Inuka used to spend much of his time on. 

“For the past 27 years, he has brought not just smiles to our keepers and Singapore Zoo staff. He also brought lots of smiles to the millions of visitors from all over the world. And especially Singaporeans,” Mr Ponichamy said.

“Our Inuka may be an old bear, but he was a good boy … our good boy.”

The ceremony culminated in Inuka’s keepers placing white roses on photos of the polar portraying him through the years.

One keeper was seen caressing a photo of Inuka and crying as he said his goodbyes. The keeper, who declined to be named, said he had spent the last 14 months looking after the polar bear.

Attendees of the event later penned notes on paw-shaped stickers and placed them on a memorial wall that was specially made for the event.

Members of the public who wish to offer tributes to Inuka can pen their well wishes on the memorial wall.

The memorial will be followed by an autopsy to fully understand Inuka’s condition. WRS also said that his body parts may be preserved for educational purposes.

SINGAPORE: ST Aerospace and Vietnam Airlines have teamed up to boost aviation operations and help Vietnam increase its footprint in the sector.

The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday (26 Apr) to set up a joint venture for ST Aerospace to provide Vietnam Airlines with Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) solutions. 

The joint project will be headquartered in the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to cater to Vietnam Airlines’ requirements, as well as the region’s growing needs for aircraft MRO services. 

This agreement was among 16 MOUs that were signed and witnessed by Singapore’s National Development Minister Lawrence Wong and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on the second day of his official visit to Singapore. It took place at the Vietnam-Singapore Business Forum held at the Fairmont Singapore.

The partnership is expected to help Vietnam Airlines’ shorten turnaround time for maintenance and repairs as these will now be carried out in Vietnam. Currently, the planes have to be sent abroad. This will help to save costs and create higher operational efficiency.

Both sides have also entered a 14-year component Maintenance-By-the-Hour (MBH) contract. This will support Vietnam Airlines’ whole fleet of A321 planes. Under the MBH contract, ST Aerospace will set up an inventory base in Vietnam to provide timely services to the airline. 

President of ST Aerospace Lim Seth Ghee said the robust development of the economy and a burgeoning middle class have created an ideal environment for the growth of the aviation industry in Asia Pacific, and Vietnam’s double digit growth in the air travel sector is the best reflection of this. 

“Riding on this growth, strategic partnerships with established industry participants such as Vietnam Airlines will enable ST Aerospace to increase our regional footprint and better penetrate high-growth markets,” he said.

Executive Vice President of Vietnam Airlines Dang Ngoc Hoa said: “This partnership not only improves our fleet efficiency and world-class service quality, but also represents a major step forward for Vietnam’s aviation industry in general.”

Meanwhile, in his opening address at the forum, Minister Lawrence Wong identified three areas for further collaboration between the Singapore and Vietnam business community. 

These include the energy sector such as Liquefied Natural Gas and renewable energy sources such as solar power, Smart Cities and Urban Solutions as well as the Digital Economy, especially in the cashless payments space.