I alight at the bus stop in Yio Chu Kang Road and cross the road to get to my home.
Many years ago, I could cross the road at any place. The traffic is usually quite light, so it did not pose any problem to pedestrians.
One day, the road authority decided to construct a pedestrian crossing with traffic lights. This is probably useful on the times of the day when the traffic is heavy.
The road authority decided, in their infinite wisdom, that they should erect a barrier 50 meters on both sides of the crossing to force pedestrians to use the crossing. I do not understand why they have to force pedestrians to walk the extra distance, when most of the time they could cross the road safely without the help of the traffic lights.
Again, in their infinite wisdom, they set the traffic lights to stop the vehicles after a long delay. Sometimes, it takes two minutes or longer. During this time, there is usually a safe gap for pedestrians to cross the road without waiting for the vehicles to stop.
Many pedestrians cross the road during this safe gap, as they do not need to wait for the green man to appear.
I do not understand why the road authority make life difficult for people, and unnecessarily. They could have allowed the pedestrians to cross the road without the assistance of the traffic light during most times of the day. The pedestrians would be quite happy to use the pedestrian crossing when necessary.
2 comments:
Bishan St along Marymount MRT station is a very busy road in the morning and late afternoon rush hours, in between relatively light traffic and easy to cross road, no need to use traffic light junctions.
Yet accidents do occur, one fatal. Pedestrians are seen dashing across heavy traffic road, instead of waiting at traffic light to save maybe 2 mins to MRT.
Ever seen pedestrians crossing the road with tidak apa face, expecting drivers to stop and wait, they dun even bother to look.
Better safe than to be sorry. Use an umbrella to address hot weather, uncool for men, but safer and lessen skin cancer risk.
It is useful to provide traffic stops for pedestrians in busy roads. There is no need to force pedestrians to use these stops during times of the day when the traffic is light.
Accidents can happen under all kinds of circumstances, and even an controlled stops. Do not make the accidents a reason to force pedestrians to walk a longer distance. Allow them to use their common sense.
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