SLE closed for more than 12 hours after chain collision

[Club21z]

Just now at 6pm woodlands road to Mandai road also closed.

TP just parked there to block cars from turning right, many big crane vehicles there not sure whats going on.

End up stuck in jam go straight to turf club and go BKE exit mandai.

 

Radio said accident but nv mention road is close !

[Lightbringer]

I agree. That's why it is very important for command to be somewhat decentralized in emergency or crisis situations, and for leaders on the ground to be empowered and sufficiently trained to take control, while still being able to act in a coordinated manner through a crisis command center.

 

I think the uniformed folks have taken this into account and made significant changes in their emergency/crisis planning, having learned from recent painful incidents (bungling and miscoordination between ICA and SPF at the Woodlands immigration; Little India riots). And more importantly, you can see in the Commission of Inquiry that the upper brass are standing by their folks on the ground, even if better judgement or decisions could have been made (in hindsight). This sends an important message down the chain of command and empowers them to make important decisions on the spot and execute them without fear - so what you're talking about, while being a real and present problem, doesn't seems very applicable here so far.

 

At the end of the day everybody has to remember that nobody is perfect and no plan is also perfect. It is easy to judge and condemn on hindsight, but when events are occurring on the ground at a rapid pace, information is imperfect and emotions run high, doing what seems to be common sense or rational as assessed from your armchair in an air-conditioned room, is not so straightforward or easily arrived at on the ground,

 

 

As you have pointed out, many situations are highly dynamic and text-book style solutions just do not cut it.

 

Besides having to be quick on their feet, the folks responding to real-life emergencies in our local context face one big pressure point: not following the text-book recommendations exposes them to the danger of their heads rolling if anything goes wrong.

 

In our NS days, it is summarised by the hokkien saying: kiang doh ho, mai gei kiang (english translation: be smart but don't act smart).

 

This fear paralyses most people whenever they are faced with a situation that is not covered in their SOPs.

 

A fear-driven society produces individuals who are generally law-abiding but unwilling and/or unable to cope with unforeseen situations.

 

If innovative people who are willing to take risks by going for out-of-the-box solutions keep getting punished for failure to abide by rules and regulations / SOPs, after a while no one will want to stick their necks out by taking a path that is not well-trodden.