Defensive driving courses

[sundaymorningstaple]

Could be the Taxi driver was distracted by his youthful looking Japanese passenger and taking advantage of the traffic light to steal a glance in the rear view mirror and was being all that observant of the bright lights bearing down on him at a high rate of speed. I know the guy was married with 3 kids, but he is also male and was alive at that time, so it was only natural.

[ScoobyDoes]

Very easy. If you have been trained to do it from day one. I ALWAYS look both ways before entering an intersection from a standing start, e.g., from a traffic light or Stop sign. All do from a Stop sign, but most don't bother when they get a "GREEN" light. GREEN means, disengage common sense. It's not just Singaporean who are guilty of that, most drivers around the world think everything will be okay as the light is RED for the other guys. And a car travelling at 140Km/hr should obviously be noted for it's rapid approach. I never "count" on the other driver stopping in time. Especially since the advent of cell phones. Or bad brakes. Common Sense with behind the wheel will keep you alive.

Taught the same way, look both ways when going through a junction.

The irony of all the vitriol posted under the YouTube video is the last time I came very close to being side swiped it was by a SG taxi. I did look to the left but with the type of junction it was pretty difficult to see far down the road. As i started moving the taxi came into the corner of my eye.

If i hadn't braked i most likely would have lost a leg, at least.

The point is, and regardless of the rubbish spouted out online, we all make mistakes from time to time. Nobody is perfect in this regards but we always should try our very best.......driving a Ferrari at speed through the city is obviously dangerous.

[RicEisNice]

BMW used to hold defensive driving courses at some race track in Malaysia. High speed defensive driving is so essential, but i notice that most driving centres in singapore have a speed limit of 50-70.

[Vaucluse]

High speed defensive driving is so essential.

most driving centres in singapore have a speed limit of 50-70

Hmm, I wonder why this is so . . .

[bluenose]

Singapore has defensive driving courses....seems no-one knows where they are or will even admit to needing them...

[ScoobyDoes]

Wooosh.

[aster]

After reading so much anti foreigner bullshit on the Ferrari incident, why does the pro-active government not introduce defensive driving courses for all as mandatory and a positive way to help this countrys appalling driving standards?

The Ferrari collision was not caused by poor driving skills but the sub-moronic actions of one person.

Maybe it's time to take a page out of Australia's driving code and zerox it into Singapore's legislation. Seriously, in most countries if you break the speed limit to that degree you go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Oh, and you probably lose your license for at least a year.

I somehow fail to believe that this was the first time this guy went over the limit...

[x9200]

Singapore has defensive driving courses....seems no-one knows where they are or will even admit to needing them...

http://www.bbdc.sg/bbweb/DefensiveTraining.aspx

[ScoobyDoes]

Obviously the locals will say they are better drivers anyway...

I had to come back to the last line of the very first post....... but today, I don't think they can or more exactly, SHOULD, be saying anything. People in glass houses etc. etc.

[aster]

Now this is a place with an interesting driving culture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58HfrGRr5s

[poodlek]

Now this is a place with an interesting driving culture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58HfrGRr5s

At least he signaled his lane change

[movingtospore]

How do you prepare for this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZG1HgOyFkU

You know what I find the most disturbing about this video? That the taxi or car doing the filming didn't immediately pull over and see what they could do to help. They just kept going saying "lucky." That is the most shocking reflection on this country, right up there with the PRC video of that little girl being run over by a truck was on China.

[sundaymorningstaple]

No different that in the USofA. There if you stop AND offer assistance you take a chance on being sued if you further damage an individual. Or even if you didn't, you can be blamed for something so it's pretty much curbed the good Samaritan instinct of us Americans as well. Although, after 2 decades on oil rigs, I'll stop every time if I can without endangering anybody else.

[poodlek]

No different that in the USofA. There if you stop AND offer assistance you take a chance on being sued if you further damage an individual. Or even if you didn't, you can be blamed for something so it's pretty much curbed the good Samaritan instinct of us Americans as well. Although, after 2 decades on oil rigs, I'll stop every time if I can without endangering anybody else.

In my aforementioned driving course I was taught to stop and call 911 (sounds pretty elementary, right?) and to not touch anybody or anything, but to observe and give details to the dispatch that might save seconds for EMS which could mean someone's life. But we all know here in SG that people's lives in that situation are at the mercy of how well the ambulance driver can negotiate traffic while waiting his turn...

[zzm9980]

After living in the Bay Area, Ca. for many years, with its very high Chinese and Indian immigrant population, I'm really used to the "driving style" in Singapore. It's very similar to Cupertino, Foster City, Milpitas, Newark/Fremont, etc.

My biggest complaint about drivers in Singapore isn't really the need for defensive driving. It's the opposite in fact, the drivers with no confidence in their abilities (usually rightfully so) and drive in utter fear of everything around them. These are the ones who make a turn onto a main road and accelerate out at the speed of their car idling. Or the ones who sit waiting to make a turn, and will still sit there waiting during gaps they could safely make the turn at least ten times, because they think they see a vehicle 500m down the road.

Second biggest complaint are the drivers who just stop their car ANYWHERE they please. One lane through an HDB neighborhood, 5 cars behind them? No problem, hit the flashers and just stop! Make everyone else struggle to get around them, obstructing oncoming cars.

Closely related to the previous gripe, are drivers trying to park. They can turn into an outdoor car park with 300 spots, only 20 of them taken, but they will immediately stop, hit the flashers, and proceed to make a 13-point turn trying to back in to the closest spot to the car park exit, which also happens to be the tightest spot in the car park, when the other 280 empty spots are all about 10m farther away. All the while, 5 more cars trying to get into the car park are now spilled out into the sidewalk and the road blocking traffic and pedestrians. (This often happens @Upper East Coast Rd across from the Killiney and 7-11, for those familiar with the area).