does not mean that you can use your horn at hapless pedestrians trying to cross at the traffic light.
Do you feel better now that you've blared your horn first thing in the morning?
I swear, I should have stopped dead in front of his car and looked him in the eye when he used his horn. Try to run me over now.
This is the traffic light across Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road. The pedestrian crossing is split in two sections, one across Bukit Timah and one across Dunearn, with a no-man's land in between. The lights are timed such that you have to walk very quickly to get to the other end. I called LTA about lengthening the time for the pedestrians to cross but they said they could not as it was a very busy street. Perfectly reasonable. So every morning, my colleagues and I do a half-run across the street and we usually get to the other side before the light turns red.
Now, they've shifted this traffic light so that they've removed the slip road on Dunearn road and made it a normal turn where cars have to give way to the pedestrians crossing. So it is even more stressful while trotting across the street cos now all these cars have to give way to you. You are pressed for time cos you want to get across the street (otherwise you'll be stuck in the middle of the two roads and have to wait another 5 minutes before the lights change again); the cars are stressed because they want to turn into Dunearn Road; and it was at this juncture that the above-mentioned car blared his horn.
Regardless of your stress level, you still do not have that right.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Just because you are in a car
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4 comments:
yeah, it's funny... as a pedestrian, I know exactly how you feel... there were a few times when I actually did what you contemplated... thankfully, I am a big boy... and most of these cowardly drivers behind the wheel were puny dwarves, and dared not step out of the car to challenge my right... heh heh... very kwai lan, right?
Don't know which part of Dunearn/Bukit Timah Roads has such "split" crossing. If u're at the end near ACS and Balmoral Plaza, there are TWO pedestrian bridges spanning both roads and really people should use them (they are within just a four block stretch!), instead of crossing one road and then trying to walk along the side of the road, waiting for the traffic to lighten be4 crossing the next. After all BT/Dunearn Roads are major highways and not meant for pedestrian to cross. Try doing that on the M1 or even M4 in the UK and see what happens to you!
Erm Anon, if the roads aren't meant to be crossed, why is there a traffic light for pedestrains in the first place?
That's the trouble with LTA: can't make up it's mind whether S'pore is a kampung where anyone can cross lanes and dirt tracks whenever he feels like it or a big cosmoplitan city with superhighways where the killing and killingly expensive machines are impatient to burn up the asphalt. So we spend billions$ on our roads and cars and then get into the most horrid traffic snarls because there are so many traffic crossings and as if this ain't enuff for the pedestrians, they X whenever the spirit moves them. I use a stretch of Dunearn/Bukit Timah road daily and at least a few times a week, there would be people (maids with bags of shopping, old folks limping; mothers with baby prams and toddlers in tow; gardeners pushing their bikes -- all merrily strolling across that stretch of BTRoad where there is a U turn to Dunearn; another from Dunearn; a flyover ahead; several cars coming out of Keng Chin Road and Hawaii Tower, Wing On Tower and Naga Court). The real miracle is that there are so few accidents -- because the drivers invariably slow down and give way to the jay-walkers. In HK, pedestrians are mostly moved off the roads, thanks to all the over-head bridges and linkways that connect buildings, making it easier for vehicles using the road. Also, thanks to a fantastic network of fast, cheap minibuses linking all the MTR stations with housing estates, there is less need to own a car.
Phew, now u did ask for an explanation about traffic xings, didn't u?
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