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Watch Out For Traffic Due To Thaipusam Festivities

SG Beat — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:31:18 +0000

The Thaipusam festivities are now taking place in Singapore and there have been road diversions and closures as a result. Public festivities will end on 22 January so please be aware of the traffic that might build up during peak traffic, especially within the city area along Bras Basah Road near Rendezvous Hotel, towards the direction of Suntec City. Avoid these areas if you are driving, but otherwise head down there to check out the Thaipusam festivities and observe the incredible acts of faith the devotees put on, including spearing different parts of their bodies, walking on beds of spikes and fire stones, without so much as a wince.

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated on the full moon of the Thai Hindu month, and devotees are to observe a day of fasting, thanksgiving and consecration where they make offerings to Lord Muruga. What draws in interested observers outside of the Hindu faith are the spectacular shows of faith by devotees who have to walk a three kilometre path of worship and thanksgiving. What you can see (partly in the picture here) are participants who carry huge decorations called kavadis which has a milk pots within. And these kavadis are often hooked onto the participants’ bodies, which can look extremely painful to the observer but devotees are known to experience no pain at all, due to their faith and belief, and this spectacle culminates on Thaipusam.

Police are on-site to redirect traffic where necessary and to maintain order as massive crowds are normally expected during the Thaipusam festivities. I had to drive by the same road this morning and while there was a slowdown, traffic was relatively smooth, even compared to normal peak hour conditions when there are no festivities. Perhaps the Land Transport Authority could look at this as an alternative to setting up ERP gantries.

Pioneer Road Accident The Result Of A Bad Habit

SG Beat — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:07:18 +0000

Yesterday’s major road accident along Pioneer Road that featured a 5 lorry pile-up and over 50 injured has led to a major debate on the safety aspects of ferrying workers on the back of lorries. I wonder if I am the only one who noticed that the attributed cause of the accident involving more than the initial 3 lorries was not that workers were being ferried by lorries, but a bad habit of many drivers along Singapore roads that has had me (and many others) fed up, especially during peak hour traffic that often involves traffic jams and road accidents.

That bad habit is to slow down and start staring at incidents or accidents that have occurred near you while driving. Now it might be natural for everyone to slow down as the instinctive reaction is to make sure you don’t knock into anyone else and it is a safety barrier. But most drivers slow down and then start staring at the accident like what might have happened in the Pioneer Road accident, trying to figure out what went on and, of course, a major like of many Singaporeans – doing their best to spot the car plate or license numbers of the accident vehicles.

“What for?” you may ask. So that they can scoot off to the nearest Singapore Pools 4D outlet during lunch and buy the numbers in the hopes that they have the next ‘lucky’ 4D numbers to hit the top prize. It might not have been the same intention by the lorry drivers involved in this Pioneer Road accident, but allowing yourself to be distracted by accidents other than to slow down and drive safely is causing major road hazards.

Unfortunately there might not be an easy solution to this. It is after all, human nature, and most people are curious as to what happens around them, especially in morbid situations such as the Pioneer Road accident. Even more unfortunate is that curiosity may kill the cat, or us, in this case.