Stress in the Sin City

It doesn't take long for a visitor to Singapore to observe that this city is not like any other city. And I don't mean the greenery or the food or the shopping and the apparently orderliness of the place.

Singapore is an unnecessarily stressful place.

Just take this morning when I dropped off my kids at the childcare centre on the way to work (my kids have been to childcare since they were 18 months old.. since my dad died, I do not have the luxury of having family childgivers taking care of my kids for me). The childcare place we use is in kind of a childcare hub where there are many companies running pre-schools. What we have done (along with hundreds of other parents) is typically to stop by the small stretch of road running alongside the schools and drop the kids off.

Now, this road is also shared by the Singapore Police Force who has a branch in the area. They have always "co-existed" peacefully with the schools and parents in the use of the road for the past 2-3 years, primarily because they have two entrances to their building. Recently though, one of their entrances was closed for renovations. As a result, the SPF has suddenly decided to take over the use of the road that we used to share. They have deployed numerous policemen to patrol this stretch of road preventing parents from stopping their cars to drop off their kids. This morning, they even called in the LTA or Land Transport Authority - kind of a pseudo road enforcer type organization - to fine and issue summons to cars that have stopped along this stretch of road even temporarily.

Politicians in Singapore have been vocal in the media recently about the low birth rate in the country and wonder why Singaporeans are not having more children. As a result of this low population replacement statistic, the government has been importing immigrants and workers at a record rate. Since 2002, the population has grown from 4.1 million people to about 5.2 million in 2012 and has made Singapore the most densely populated country in the world with about 7300 people for each square kilometer (as compared to a country like the UK where there are around 400 people for each square kilometer, even Tokyo and Hong Kong have only 6000 people per sq km). People are literally fighting for space here. Property prices are a world high. Even having lunch here is stressful as people fight for places to sit down to eat. The train network is packed to the point that it keeps breaking down.

For a small country of roughly 700 sq kilometers this is ludicrous.

This is the country I live in.

Taxi drivers as a model of good driving habits‏

There have been several conversations recently regarding the bad driving habits being exhibited by drivers on Singapore roads. Although there are no easy fixes, through my observations however as a driver, I feel that one way that driving standards can be improved is by making taxi drivers the benchmark when it comes to displaying good driving habits.

Taxis, due to the nature of their large numbers on our roads, are highly visible. As of Jul 2012, there are more than 28,000 taxis operating on Singapore roads according to data from the LTA. I would venture to say that all the typical Singapore driver bad habits e.g. horn abuse, abrupt changing of lanes without signalling, speeding up in lanes when someone signals, tailgating/road hogging, sudden stopping on roadsides are all exhibited in some way or form by taxi drivers here.

If taxi drivers were to show all the best characteristics of good driving, I feel that it would rub-off on other drivers on Singapore roads.

What are some of the ways of improving taxi driver driving habits you might ask? Besides the obvious way e.g. sending taxi drivers to good driving courses or other training courses, taxi companies should take a more active part in reprimanding bad driving and incentizing taxi drivers for good driving behaviour. Have a scheme whereby other road users can give feedback ok good driving behaviour shown by taxi drivers. Have a scheme where taxi drivers will face bans when they exhibit bad driving habits.

When I have taken taxis in Singapore in the past, the drivers who I spoke to tend to be a stressed lot who complain about business being harder now as compared to the past. The stress of bad driving habits on the roads as well as that of competing with others could possibly result in bad driving habits. As the ratio of taxis to population (and land size) in Singapore is much greater than in other countries, for example Hong Kong, one way to reduce this stress is to reduce the total number of taxis on our roads which would ensure that taxi drivers would not have so much competition in looking for fares and in turn exhibit bad driving.

My hope at the end of the day is for Singapore to have a model taxi force, which consists not just of the latest and most modern taxi fleet and systems, but also where taxi drivers display good driving habits which the rest of the road users will model themselves by. This in turn might also make Singapore a less stressful and dangerous place to be for other road users.

My Lifelist

I attended a local photographer's workshop yesterday at Sentosa and one of the topics that was raised was the motivation behind her photographs. One of the major triggers was the creation of a lifelist containing things that a person wants to achieve in life. I was inspired enough to start one of my own, so here goes.. hopefully I will be able to achieve some of them this year!

Personal Development Comments

• Learn to play the piano
• Learn a third language
• Learn to drive a car.......... Done
• Drive a stick shift (properly)                      
• Learn how to ride a motorbike
• Race on a real racetrack
• Ride a horse

Family & Relationships

• Get Married :)............. Done
• Become a Parent............. Done
• Go to a Premier League match with Dad

Community

• Do volunteer work towards an important cause

Sports & Adventure

• Master tennis............. Done, fitness is another matter
• Break 100 in golf At Horizon Hills in Nov 2009
• Break 90 in golf                                                                    
• Learn to swim.............. Done
• Catch a rainbow trout/Fly fishing
• Learn to dive

Lifestyle

• Live in a new country for a few years........... Done
• Work in a new country
• Own an iconic car...................Done VW GTI                                                              
• Own a Porsche
• Own a convertible

Career & Finance

• Be Financially independent
• Start my own business............... In progress
• Work in your dream job...............Is there such a thing?
• Work for the fun of it and not for money

Travel

• Visit all the countries in South East Asia.................... Thailand, West Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines done so far
• Visit all countries in North Asia........................ Japan, China, Korea done so far
• Visit all 7 continents
• Visit a major city in Europe ............................. Been to Paris, London
• Visit a major city in the US................................... Been to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle
• Visit a major city in China................................. Been to Shanghai

Photography

• Shoot the Northern Lights
• Shoot the Grand canyon................................ Done
• Shoot the Eiffel tower.................................. Done
• Shoot the Sydney Opera House....................... Done
• Shoot the Lourve Pyramid in Paris...................... Done
• Shoot Big Ben in London............................. Done
• Shoot the Taj Mahal                                              
• Shoot the Pyramids of Egypt
• Shoot the Niagara Falls............................. Done
• A polar bear in the wild
• A killer whale
• A great white shark breaching
• A Crocodile in the wild........................... Done

A dog's love

Buddy (1996 - 29 May 2006)

Immortality,
I make my journey through eternity
I keep the memory of you and me inside

But you are my only,
And I will follow on the road that lies ahead
And I wont let my heart control my head
But u are you my only,
We Don`t say goodbye,
We Don`t say goodbye,
And I know what I've got to be

Immortality,
There is a vision and a fire in me,
I'll keep the memory of you and me inside
We Don`t say goodbye
We Don`t say goodbye
With all my love for you
And what ever else we may do
We Don`t say goodbye...