I went on a 10-day road trip through Western and Central Europe recently, and it proved to me that Singaporeans can’t drive.
Now, if you’re already getting all in a tizzy and defensive, you know what they say about if the shoe fits. But anyway, back to the topic at hand, allow me to elaborate.
In essentially all of Europe, speed limits are significantly higher than in Singapore, with limits of 130km/h commonplace across many European highways. Germany famously also has sections of its autobahn network with no speed limit at all. Why does this work?
Yes, of course, it works because those countries are much bigger than ours. But more importantly, it works because the people have a different mindset when it comes to driving.
In Singapore, drivers (and frankly most citizens, driving or otherwise) have a “me first” mentality that seeps into every facet of their driving.
You see this all the time on our roads, from rushing through zebra crossings even when pedestrians are waiting, to acting like being overtaken on the expressway is a direct dishonour to their family.
Which brings me to my next point: lane discipline actually exists in Europe, unlike here, where drivers treat every lane as free real estate just waiting to be hogged 15km/h below the limit. God forbid you try to overtake them, though, because suddenly these hoggers will remember their accelerator pedal works and speed up to block you. Excellent!
And if by chance there’s an emergency vehicle coming with the lights or even sirens on, the Singaporean response is twofold.
Firstly, many must believe giving way is a chargeable action (monetarily) because I can’t think of any other valid reason for obstinately sitting right in front of a vehicle designed to literally be as visible as possible.
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