Sunday, January 16, 2011

Countdown timer at pedestrian crossing

The countdown timer at pedestrian crossing is now quite common in Singapore. It is useful in telling the pedestrian the time left before the light change from green to red.

I first saw the countdown timer in China about 20 years ago. I felt that it was a great idea and should be implemented in Singapore. Someone wrote to the newspaper to suggest this timer be installed. I remembered the official reply at that time - it was unnecessary and could be counter-productive. I could not understand the reasoning at that time, but felt that it was typical of the kind of convoluted thinking that was quite common in Singapore.

The official view was quietly changed many years later, and we now see the useful timer in many places.

Tan Kin Lian
Posted by at

5 comments:

ron said...

Its the usual response from "management" the ones who are neither experienced or have vision or too dogged to re-examine possibilities.

Many years ago I worked for a company that used many parts from Boeing. I suggested that some of these parts, after being assembled should bear some identification lables. This was to allow recording of defects and help direct maintainance crew to the problem quickly.

The response was : " Boeing has already assigned the parts as ....
..." we see no need to replicate it.
Trouble was: the original part serial numbers were lenghthy and in small font and may not be visible.

My suggestion was to lable them in layman terms: such as "lamp # 1" instead of " B4563-565- lamp "

Now you know why some defects are never rectified. Maintainance personnel cannot locate them!

Management... in a world of their own.

January 17, 2011 3:48 PM
ron said...

To look4kc:

Yes! so true!

After my suggestion ( mind you, it was a written suggestion submited via proper channels.. and propmptly rejected ). about 1 year later, lableling was done exactly what I suggested.. damn!..

They just couldn't accept a brilliant idea that came from an uneducated person with only GCE A levels.

I now pen my ideas for my own business.

January 18, 2011 2:29 PM
Vincent Sear said...

One thing I find wastful is the installation of pedestrian press buttons at junction traffic lights. These are supposed to be meant for pedestrian crossings only, so that when there're no pedestrians (pressing the buttons and awaiting to cross) the traffic can flow on smoothly instead of stopping and wasting time for nothing except complying with complying with the red light.

Does it serve any purpose at junctions where criss-crossing traffic have to be controlled with or without pedestrians?

I'm not a motorist. I'm a pedestrian.

January 18, 2011 11:10 PM
Unknown said...

It's the same with putting bus number at the back of bus. A decade ago I suggested to SBS to put bus number behind the bus as well to save people needlessly running from far way to catch the bus & only find out the bus number when they reach the front of bus. SBS rejected the idea saying it will encourage people to run after bus. Now it is implemented on all buses. Some People are just not open-minded enough to accept ideas from others.

January 19, 2011 9:35 PM
ron said...

To Rita:

My experience is: the person who can make a difference needs to evaluate the suggestion or idea with the view of costs and effectiveness.

Your idea to have the service number visible at the rear of the bus is great. We can appreciate it, now that it has been implemented.

But at the time, cost was an issue.
How much money is needed to get these signs done and how much work required. Will it affect operations? Does it comply with LTA rules for buses? etc etc..

You see, in my case, Boeing already had parts numbered and it could be traced to a common inventory data base. To label them with simple language was going to create a logistics nightmare for them... and the key question was: what is the cost and effectiveness?

Management claims that rank& file workers have mindest blocked and are resistant to change.

Well, I claim management have graduate - block, and miss the wood for the trees.

Keep the great ideas to yourself for your own advantage.

January 21, 2011 1:20 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Blog Archive