Cars whizzed by on North Bridge Road when this reporter spotted a shock of silver hair.

The elderly woman was frantically shuffling across the busy road, clutching her handbag with both arms.

Cars would slow down but many would pass her with just metres to spare.

She was not alone. In just 30 minutes, The New Paper saw at least 10 elderly citizens jaywalking along a stretch on North Bridge Road, resulting in many close shaves.

One stood in the middle for what seemed to be ages before running to the other side.

But this is a four-laner with buses zipping past constantly. The New Paper on Sunday team watched nervously as the elderly seemed to dice with death.

An overhead bridge and a pedestrian crossing lies about 20m from either sides of the spot they are crossing from, but are largely ignored.

DANGER

TNPS spoke to one of the jaywalkers, who wanted to be known only as Mr Xie, and he acknowledged the risks.

He says sheepishly: “I know it is dangerous to be standing in the middle of the road.

“But I have a sense of safety and I always keep an eye out for any incoming vehicles.”

Mr Xie, who is in his 70s, says he found climbing the overhead bridge to be tiring.

He says: “It is so hot these days that I will sweat a lot just climbing up and down the overhead bridge.

“It is more convenient just to jaywalk.”

The situation was similar at Eu Tong Sen Street. This is where a tragic accident took the life of an eight-year-old boy.

Mr Francis Sng, 48, owner of Chef Icon Nature Bakery, which faces the road, says he sees children jaywalking as well.

He says: “They would climb over the green dividers in the middle of the road. It is dangerous especially for kids, as they are short and drivers may not see them crossing.”

Accidents involving elderly pedestrians rose by 8.8 per cent last year, according to the Traffic Police.

They highlighted jaywalking as an area of concern for senior citizens and plan to create more awareness on road safety and the dangers of jaywalking among senior citizens.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) introduced the Green Man Plus scheme in October 2009.

The scheme gives senior citizens and disabled pedestrians more time to cross the road when they tap their cards on the card reader on the traffic light pole.

But these measures appear to be gaining little traction in the areas we visited.

A woman in her 80s, who wanted to be known only as Madam Leong, says: “I get very scared standing in the middle of the road because so many big vehicles pass by me.

“But I run really fast, so I think I am okay.”

We spot a woman trying to dissuade her friend who is pushing a toddler in a pram from crossing the road illegally, to no avail.

The woman, known only as Madam Chen, sighed and turned to TNPS, saying: “I always tell my friends not to jaywalk and just use the pedestrian crossing, especially when they are with kids. But they scold me for being ‘kaypoh’ (Hokkien for busybody).”

She adds: “Safety is the most important thing. There is an overhead bridge and a pedestrian crossing here for a reason, why don’t people just use them?”

Jaywalking led to boy’s death

Last December, they were jaywalking across Eu Tong Sen Street when a car hit them.

Mr Tan Tiong Him, 66, opted not to use an overhead bridge 30m away as he felt climbing the stairs would be too strenuous.

So he and his eight-year-old grandson Galen Ong Zi Jie crossed at the traffic lights near the New Bridge Road Bus Terminal though it was not a designated pedestrian crossing.

As they were crossing, the lights turned green for oncoming vehicles and they made a run for the other side. But a car driven by student Tan See Woon, 22, crashed into them.

Galen was flung to the middle of the road about 10m away. He died in hospital a few hours later.

Almost half a year has passed and Mr Tan still blames himself for his grandson’s death.He misses his grandson so much, he sleeps in the boy’s room about five times a week.

He now carries photographs of Galen with him everywhere so he can feel as if his beloved grandson is always with him.

Mr Tan told Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao: “I’ve always thought I was a responsible grandfather, but now that this had happened, there is no way to turn back time to how things were before.”

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is implementing Silver Zones at selected residential areas to improve road safety for elderly pedestrians.

Better safety for senior pedestrians

Silver Zones feature narrower lanes and rest points on the road divider so the elderly can cross the road in two stages. Speed limits will be reduced to 40kmh wherever possible.

Additionally, there are signs informing incoming cars that they are in the special zone, along with three rumble strips on the road to slow them down.

Other traffic features include chicanes, which are gentle curves along sections of roads, to ensure that cars do not speed.

Places with a large population of seniors and a relatively high accident rate involving seniors have been identified as Silver Zones.

Since the scheme was first announced in 2014, the LTA has completed seven Silver Zones (Bedok, Bukit Merah View, Jurong West Street 52, Lengkok Bahru, Tampines, Woodlands and Yishun). Eight more Silver Zones will be completed by next year. LTA intends to implement 35 Silver Zones in residential estates by 2020.

MORE TIME

The Green Man Plus scheme allows senior citizens and pedestrians with disabilities more time to cross the road when they tap their senior citizen concession or Green Man Plus cards on the card reader on the traffic light pole.

Introduced in October 2009, the additional time can be extended up to 13 seconds, depending on the size of the crossing. On average, most of the selected pedestrian crossings have six more seconds of “green man” time.

She was 19 when she learnt that she was five months pregnant.

It was too late for an abortion.

And her 20-year-old boyfriend decided he wasn’t going to stick around.

“I was doing a polytechnic internship at the time and always wore baggy clothes to hide my stomach,” Jasmine (not her real name) tells The New Paper on Sunday.

“I kept my pregnancy a secret from my closest friends and totally stayed off social media. I didn’t want anyone to judge, or think differently of me.”

She told her friends only after giving birth.

“They were all shocked,” she says.

“Most of them were concerned and wondered why I never told them earlier. I don’t know if anything was said behind my back about me having the baby.” That fear of being judged never left Jasmine.

Now 24 and in the first year of tertiary education, she says she has had to grow up quickly.

“Your life changes completely when you have a baby. There is no such thing as personal time,” says Jasmine.

“Once you become a mum, your child is priority. Going out with friends or going on holidays are out of the question.”

LUCKY

She considers herself lucky because of the help she gets from her 59-year-old mother.

Jasmine’s mother, a factory manager, became the sole breadwinner of the family after she lost her husband in 2009.

She also looks after Jasmine’s 23-year-old brother.

“I am so glad my mother can help me out so much,” says Jasmine.

“But sometimes, I can’t help looking around and wishing that I could give my son a conventional family unit like everyone else.”

Dating, for now, is out.

“The people in my social circle at school are around my age,” she says.

“And while it is the most important thing for me that a man accepts my son, I can’t expect him to take on such a big responsibility at our age.”

Jasmine, who just started her three-year university degree course, says she was close to someone – until she told him about her son.

“His reaction was quite honest, and I appreciated it,” she says.

“He just told me, ‘I hope you don’t think I am ready to take responsibility for a child.'”

It hurts her that she can’t have the traditional family yet.

“It gets tiring being alone.

“I am okay with raising the child, and I am grateful for my mother’s help, but once in a while, I just wonder how different it would be if I could change the situation.

“I just wish my son could be like other kids and have a daddy.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Number of children born to teenagers aged 19 and below in 2014, with 105 of the children registered without a father’s name: 406

2010: 641

2011: 624

2012: 575

2013: 487

Source: Number of teenage births according to Registry of Births and Deaths by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority

Social stigma stops single parents from seeking help

Current pro-traditional family policies here stigmatise single-parent families.

That’s according to a study published last year by Singapore Management University’s Lien Centre For Social Innovation.

In interviews with low-income, single-parent families, the study found that this culture of stigmatisation prevents many single parents from openly asking for help, either from friends and family or from assistance schemes.

But single parents do need help and in a myriad of ways.

The study found that a lack of adequate childcare makes jobhunting challenging. But without employment, childcare subsidies are largely unavailable.

Single parents also find it difficult to upgrade themselves because they have little time and money.

Even if they are able to balance employment and childcare, single parents find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to earn an income sufficient for a family, without the support of any other household members.

Other challenges faced by single parents include lack of easy access to information on available assistance, large amount of documentation required to apply for assistance and the time required for the application process.

On the housing front, the study found that single parents rely on family for informal living arrangements.

This is because of a lack of alternatives, ease of travel to workplace and children’s schools as well as grandparents who can provide caregiving support to children.

The comfort of a familiar environment for children also plays a part.

Traditional versus non-traditional

The model of a traditional family consists of children with parents who are married to each other as their immediate line of support.

Married parents of Singaporean children generally get more perks than those of unwed mothers and other different family make-ups.

Married parents of Singaporean children get:

• Baby Bonus of $6,000 cash each for first and second child, and $8,000 each for third and fourth child
• Parenthood Tax Rebate of $5,000 for first child, $10,000 for the second and $20,000 for the third and each subsequent child
• 16 weeks of paid maternity leave
• 1 week of paid paternity leave
• Six days of paid childcare leave a year if the child is below seven years old or two days if the child is aged seven to 12
• Subsidies for infant care and childcare
• Levy concession for foreign domestic worker
• Medisave grant for newborns
• MediShield coverage for congenital and neonatal conditions

Unwed mums get:

• Two days of paid childcare leave if the child is below seven years old
• Subsidies for infant care and childcare
• Levy concession for foreign domestic worker
• Medisave grant for newborns
• MediShield coverage for congenital and neonatal conditions

Unwed mums do not get:

• Baby Bonus
• Parenthood Tax Rebate

See also: Unwed mothers to receive 16-week maternity leave from next year

This article was first published on April 17, 2016.
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When Singaporean Raymond Yeo sent an online complaint to the Narendra Modi government a year ago, after being overcharged for a short taxi ride in the city of Mumbai, he did not think it would lead to much.

The 50-year-old sales representative has now found out that his complaint had kicked up quite a storm.

“I am quite shocked. Frankly, I had forgotten all about it,” Mr Yeo, a frequent visitor to India for work and leisure, told The Sunday Times.

“Yes finally there is a response, there is an investigation and something good has come out of it.”

The online complaint that he filed had found its way to the Prime Minister’s Office, then to the federal ministry of transport in New Delhi, before landing on the table of Maharasthra’s transport commissioner Shyam Wardhane.

The local transport authorities this month suspended the driving licence of cabby Jamil Ahmed for six months.

They have also suspended the permit of the taxi, which belongs to Mahek Tours and Travels, for a month and are investigating why the address on the permit had turned out to be wrong.

Mr Yeo was charged 500 rupees (S$10) for a less than one-kilometre journey lasting around three minutes from his hotel to the airport on April 11 last year. The trip should have cost just 30 or 40 rupees, he said.

“It happens all the time. Cabbies would ask for tips, usually within a reasonable amount,” Mr Yeo said. “This guy was too much. I didn’t argue. I just said I would like to complain and I took some photos. He was not bothered at all… I was flying to Singapore, so I came back, Googled the ministry of transport and just tried my luck.”

He added: “Five hundred rupees is not much. But it wasn’t about the money. I wanted to make a point.”

In his online complaint, Mr Yeo wrote that the taxi driver refused to go by the taxi meter rate and settled on 200 rupees for the ride after negotiations. However, he asked for 500 rupees at the end of the journey, claiming extra for luggage.

“This is pure malpractice and corruption. This is bad for India’s tourism and image, you have to be rid (India of) such bad public taxi drivers,” he wrote in his complaint.

The complaint coincided with an effort by the Modi administration to boost India’s image, not only as a business destination but also as a tourist-friendly country.

The government has unveiled a series of initiatives, including a social awareness campaign called Atithi Devo Bhava, which in Sanskrit means “consider the guest as god”, that ran for over a year. Starring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, it recreated stories of good behaviour, showing a vendor returning a purse left behind by a tourist and an auto rickshaw driver protecting a tourist from harassment.

Some 22.57 million tourists visited India in 2014, compared to 5.78 million in 2010.

The official action taken over Mr Yeo’s case, activists said, has highlighted the issue of overcharging.

“This case has had an impact because it involved the Prime Minister’s Office and a foreign national,” said Mumbai-based social activist Binu Varghese, who works closely with the transport authorities, and helped the police track down Mr Yeo’s cab driver.

The driver was caught within two days from the time Mr Varghese put out the word to look out for the cab, whose licence number had been noted down by Mr Yeo.

The driver, according to transport officials and Mr Varghese, initially denied his involvement. But he was identified after local newspaper Mumbai Mirror forwarded a picture of him from Mr Yeo to transport officials.

Mr Wardhane has since shared his e-mail address publicly so those who need to can write in to complain about errant drivers.

Four people, including a woman who was refused transport by an auto rickshaw driver, have responded so far, he told The Sunday Times. The permit of the auto rickshaw driver has been suspended.

Mr Yeo, who has not returned to India since the episode, is keen to visit the country again. “I have become famous in India, I need to go up for a visit… maybe next month,” he joked.

This article was first published on April 17, 2016.
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