Accidents in Singapore Roads Lately

[Gigacrusher]

Hi,

 

With so many high profile road accidents happening on Singapore roads lately, I cannot help but seem to agree with the recent survey that Singapore roads has one of the worst safety records among developed countries. Care to share what are some causes or observable traits among Singaporean drivers that could be attributable to the high accident fatalities or accidents on our roads? Here are a few personal observations to get going:

 

1) Simply careless drivers who are heavy on the paddle

 

2) Agressive driver with offensive driving tendencies

 

3) Young drivers who seem to have little regard or appreciation of safety or limits of car (don't mean to generalise here but insurance premiums seem to back up statistical claims)

 

4) Taxi drivers who seem to be more keen on making money with little regard for safety when they do sudden braking to stop just to pick up passengers anywhere along any roads -often at the peril of drivers who are behind them.

 

5) Pressures and pace of life here in Singapore that makes people not only walk fastest but also tend to drive fast too.

 

Any others for the sake of spreading safe driving message?

 

Rgds,

GigaCrusher

[Rom1619]

One reason I can think of is that Singaporeans (Sorry for the generalisation, not all, but cant think of any other way to put it) have this pathetic tendency to feel slighted when people need to "cut" in front of them. Some accidents I have witnessed personally were because the driver behind just simply refused to give way when it would have just made more sense to. They just simply tried to close the gap asap, thats why cannot stop in time and *bang*.

 

Another would be the tendency to be very edgy and aggresive when in the car. Many of my friends do it too and I get worried coz i rather give way than have an accident or have a fight......

 

Either way, i think we should all give way regardless coz it would make the roads much more pleasant for all!

java script: x()

java script: x()

[Otsego]

let them kana accident then they know how serious it is....

[Gigacrusher]

Thanks for sharing this good point bro. In this regard, I think we have much to learn from the Thais whom I rarely hear any horn on roads even when it jammed up. Their hospitable nature/culture seem to make road driving a lot more pleasant indeed!

[Adwin]

Agreed.... so scared of flipping the Straits times nowadays....

 

a lot of accidents splashed on the first page of the Home section.

[Bern_lancer]

just saw one taxi up-rooting a tree (small) in clementi ave.2 this afternoon.

i guess stress play a very important part in a city like singapore.

and many let out their stress in the wrong way...

[Nero159]

IMHO, the following are key reasons why there are more accidents on S'pore road than other developed countries:

 

1) Relatively inexperienced drivers (as no real highway driving opportunity).

2) The "I pay road tax and thus I can drive on any lane of the road at any speed I want" attitude.

3) The kiasu "nobody get in front of me" attitude.

4) Cheap and quiet tyre is best believe (not realising that quiet tyre means narrow thread grooves which would guarantee loss of grip when wet).

5) Tailgating.

6) Big body small engine cars mean not enough power to get out of trouble.

7) No ASR/TC and ESP/VDC to help the driver keep his/her car in the intended trajectory of travel.

8) Zero situation awareness drivers.

 

Just my 2 cents...

[Nero159]

One observation which I couldn't figure out:

 

There seems to be a higher percentage of Jap cars getting in accidents then Contis (I mean number of accident caused by Jap cars divided by the total number of Jap cars in S'pore is higher than that of Contis). Is it because most Jap cars don't come with ASR/TC and VDC/ESP? Or is it Contis are more expensive and thus owners are more careful when driving?

 

It is also interesting to see if the number of fatal accidents is higher with Jap or Conti cars, given the higher safety features of the latter.

[Icekitten]

How come no one mentioned "drunk drivers"?

 

Quite a few of the recent accidents were caused by drunk drivers.

[Wind]

Instead of analysing what went wrong with Singaporean Drivers, why not us as Singaporean drivers in this top local motoring forum, make a stand:

 

1) I shall not tailgate vehicles un-necessarily, esp in slow moving traffic which is basically pointless (where can we get to)

2) Speeding should only be done without affecting/endangering other drivers.

3) I shall not react negatively to horns/ high beams. I reflect on myself what needs to be improved.

4) I shall take a deep breath immediately and calm down should i be irritated by any other fellow road user's act.

[Sw20]

Where is this place in Europe which i think is in Switzerland. There were so much accident that once the mayor remove the speed limit, there weren't any accidents. It was in the papers. I remember reading it couple of years back. Could someone enlighten this?

 

I find that drivers are rebellious, the more you say don't the more they'll do.

You notice in singapore there are more deaths of drug over dose than any other countries?

It is because they felt "limited" so they with their kiasu mentality, they take more because is hard to come by. Places like Spain, where by those banned drugs here (SG) are not banned there, People could take in moderation. Also Drugs are not all that bad. It depends on dosage.

[Ivan96935sg]

Hi,

 

With so many high profile road accidents happening on Singapore roads lately, I cannot help but seem to agree with the recent survey that Singapore roads has one of the worst safety records among developed countries. Care to share what are some causes or observable traits among Singaporean drivers that could be attributable to the high accident fatalities or accidents on our roads? Here are a few personal observations to get going:

 

1) Simply careless drivers who are heavy on the paddle

 

2) Agressive driver with offensive driving tendencies

 

3) Young drivers who seem to have little regard or appreciation of safety or limits of car (don't mean to generalise here but insurance premiums seem to back up statistical claims)

 

4) Taxi drivers who seem to be more keen on making money with little regard for safety when they do sudden braking to stop just to pick up passengers anywhere along any roads -often at the peril of drivers who are behind them.

 

5) Pressures and pace of life here in Singapore that makes people not only walk fastest but also tend to drive fast too.

 

Any others for the sake of spreading safe driving message?

 

Rgds,

GigaCrusher

 

To add-on, I noticed more and more drivers dun indicate their intention when lane changing or filtering........maybe some drivers here are guilty of this simple discipline?

[Slayer]

Start from oneself. we can post until mcf explode.

 

but lets be humble on the road, shall we? :)

[Lbc13]

Replying to : Nero159

Post: One observation which I couldn't figure out:

 

There seems to be a higher percentage of Jap cars getting in accidents then Contis (I mean number of accident caused by Jap cars divided by the total number of Jap cars in S'pore is higher than that of Contis). Is it because most Jap cars don't come with ASR/TC and VDC/ESP? Or is it Contis are more expensive and thus owners are more careful when driving?

 

It is also interesting to see if the number of fatal accidents is higher with Jap or Conti cars, given the higher safety features of the latter.

 

Dun be silly, it's just simply because there's more Japanese than Contis right?

Elementary

[Alf08]

Hi,

 

With so many high profile road accidents happening on Singapore roads lately, I cannot help but seem to agree with the recent survey that Singapore roads has one of the worst safety records among developed countries. Care to share what are some causes or observable traits among Singaporean drivers that could be attributable to the high accident fatalities or accidents on our roads? Here are a few personal observations to get going:

 

1) Simply careless drivers who are heavy on the paddle

 

2) Agressive driver with offensive driving tendencies

 

3) Young drivers who seem to have little regard or appreciation of safety or limits of car (don't mean to generalise here but insurance premiums seem to back up statistical claims)

 

4) Taxi drivers who seem to be more keen on making money with little regard for safety when they do sudden braking to stop just to pick up passengers anywhere along any roads -often at the peril of drivers who are behind them.

 

5) Pressures and pace of life here in Singapore that makes people not only walk fastest but also tend to drive fast too.

 

Any others for the sake of spreading safe driving message?

 

Rgds,

GigaCrusher

 

I agreed with the points you have mentioned. To add on, inexperience young driver who only want to show off and cheong with their new car. And also whaen there is CB sitting beside them, many things can happen!!!

 

Also , our patient play a part, flustration generate fast when we enounter traffic jam or car just cut into lane suddenly, if we can't control it logically ,then agian, accident happen lor.

[Magnakai]

Hi,

 

With so many high profile road accidents happening on Singapore roads lately, I cannot help but seem to agree with the recent survey that Singapore roads has one of the worst safety records among developed countries. Care to share what are some causes or observable traits among Singaporean drivers that could be attributable to the high accident fatalities or accidents on our roads? Here are a few personal observations to get going:

 

1) Simply careless drivers who are heavy on the paddle

 

2) Agressive driver with offensive driving tendencies

 

3) Young drivers who seem to have little regard or appreciation of safety or limits of car (don't mean to generalise here but insurance premiums seem to back up statistical claims)

 

4) Taxi drivers who seem to be more keen on making money with little regard for safety when they do sudden braking to stop just to pick up passengers anywhere along any roads -often at the peril of drivers who are behind them.

 

5) Pressures and pace of life here in Singapore that makes people not only walk fastest but also tend to drive fast too.

 

Any others for the sake of spreading safe driving message?

 

Rgds,

GigaCrusher

 

I think those high profile cases due to drink driving - the three accidents last two days and the other one at the bus stop where 4 ladies where injured. In fact, 25% of accidents where someone is killed due to drink driving. Why would people choose to drink and drive - cannot understand. I think for convenience or they think they can handle the drink and take a risk.

[Gigacrusher]

Good point there Magnakai. Missed out on the one major contributor here. Drunck driving is not insignificant to ignore here!

[Gigacrusher]

 

 

Edited May 9, 2007 by Gigacrusher