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Singaporeans are an interesting bunch. We’ll spend $180 on a fancy steak dinner without blinking. We’ll queue 45 minutes for fried kway teow at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre. Some of us will even happily pay several thousands more above the listed price for a Rolex simply because “I like the watch”. But ask us to pay an extra $3 for parking? Suddenly, we transform into forensic accountants. We’ve all done it. You’re heading to town, and someone says, “Don’t park there lah. Go further down. Cheaper.” Never mind that the “further down” carpark requires a seven-minute walk, three traffic lights, and navigating through an underpass that feels like an escape room. The parking is $2 cheaper. And apparently, that’s all that matters. We all just want to feel like a winner I once had a friend who drove around Marina Bay for almost 20 minutes searching for a cheaper parking lot. By the time he found one, he had probably burnt enough fuel to erase the savings entirely. But in his mind? Victory. This peculiar behaviour isn’t limited to parking either. Singaporean drivers have an almost supernatural ability to detect savings. We’ll compare petrol station discounts like stockbrokers analysing market trends, and that’s perfectly fine. At this point, it sounds less like refuelling a car and more like planning a corporate merger. Yet the funniest thing is that many of us rarely apply the same logic elsewhere. We’ll drive a $200,000 car but refuse to enter a carpark charging $5 an hour. We’ll pay for premium car grooming packages but complain about a modest ERP charge. We'll spend thousands on aftermarket wheels and then circle the block four times to avoid paying for valet parking. The mathematics rarely make sense. But the feeling does. And that’s because for many Singaporeans, finding a bargain isn’t really about the money. It’s about winning. A small victory against the relentless costs of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Every cent counts Let’s be honest. Car ownership here is already expensive enough. Between COE, road tax, insurance, servicing, ERP, fuel, and parking, every driver knows the numbers add up quickly. So when we save $2 on parking, however irrational it may seem, it feels like we’ve clawed something back. It’s arguably the same reason people will drive to Malaysia just to fill up on fuel and buy groceries. The savings become part of the adventure. Of course, there comes a point where common sense should prevail. If you're driving 15 minutes further, spending fuel, adding stress, arriving late, and making your passengers question your life choices, perhaps the extra $2 wasn’t the enemy after all. I am no different, by the way… Then again, that’s easy for me to say. Tomorrow, I'll probably be the one rejecting a perfectly convenient carpark because another one is charging 30 cents less. Because deep down, every Singaporean driver believes there’s a better deal just around the corner. And, believe me, we’re more than willing to drive 15 minutes to find it. ~ Julian

There are two things Singaporeans are exceptionally good at: Complaining about the weather. And believing we can manage traffic better than the Land Transport Authority (LTA). In fact, give any Singaporean driver five minutes in a traffic jam and they'll transform into a transport minister, urban planner, and traffic engineer all at once. You’ll hear things like, “Why don’t they just make this a right-turn lane?” or “Who approved this traffic light timing?” Better still – “If they asked me, I could solve this in one afternoon.” Suddenly, we’re all experts. The “I know a better way” syndrome It usually starts when you’re stuck at a red light that feels longer than the queue for Taylor Swift tickets. You stare at the empty cross traffic. No cars. No pedestrians. Nothing. Yet the light remains stubbornly red. At that moment, you become convinced the entire traffic system is flawed. You start designing better road layouts in your head. Maybe a slip road here. Maybe a dedicated turning lane there. Hell, perhaps demolish a few buildings while we’re at it! Of course, we always forget that it’s easy to be a genius when we’re sitting comfortably in an air-conditioned car. Everyone has their own traffic masterplan The funny thing is that every Singaporean driver’s solution is completely different. The BMW driver thinks roads should flow faster. The taxi uncle thinks buses are causing the problem. The bus commuter thinks there are too many cars. The motorcyclist thinks nobody pays attention. And the cyclist thinks everyone else is wrong. Put all of them in a room and you’ll create a traffic jam before anyone even reaches the carpark. We see one junction, but they see the entire island To be fair, most of us judge traffic based on the 15 minutes that inconvenience us. LTA has to think about the entire country. That irritating red light near your workplace may actually be helping traffic flow three junctions away. That bus lane you dislike could be moving hundreds more people than the cars beside it. That roadwork you complain about today might prevent a bigger headache tomorrow. But logic rarely wins when you’re already late for a meeting. Apps have made us worse Navigation apps have turned ordinary drivers into armchair strategists. The moment an app like Waze suggests a shortcut, we become convinced we’ve discovered something the authorities somehow missed. “See? I saved four minutes by cutting through this industrial estate.” Yeah, congratulations. You've now joined the elite club of Singaporeans who believe a phone app has outsmarted decades of transport planning. Of course, when that same shortcut dumps you into an even bigger jam, we conveniently forget about it. The National hobby nobody talks about Deep down, traffic discussions are one of Singapore’s favourite pastimes. Mention COE, ERP, road closures, parking charges, or bus lanes and watch a perfectly quiet kopi session become a full-scale panel discussion. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a solution. Oh, and yes, everyone is absolutely certain they’re right. The truth is, Singapore’s roads generally work pretty well considering how many vehicles share a small island every day. Could things be improved? Of course. Will Singaporeans continue offering unsolicited traffic advice? Absolutely. And perhaps that's part of our national identity. Because no matter where we're from, what we drive, or whether we even own a car, we all share one common belief: If LTA could just let us run traffic for a week, we’d fix everything. Or at least that’s what we’ll tell ourselves while waiting at the next red light. ~ Julian (Images from Unsplash)

Hi All.... May i know about the Vep how ya....i am driving to malaccaa in september

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