Gracious drivers, smoother drives
Considerate driving, such as giving way to others, could make for safer roads.
I WAS on the edge of my seat in the back of an MPV as a tour guide drove my family through the crowded and narrow streets of Kuta in Bali, Indonesia, during rush hour.
Customer queues at restaurants and shoppers spilled onto the streets, standing hazardously close to moving cars. Tourists on motorbikes shot past our car at high speeds, meandering through the vehicles caught in traffic.
Faced with endless waves of reckless road users, our driver, Agus Sanjaya, calmly applied the brakes to give way. He had anticipated the onslaught. Not a single passenger jolted in his seat.
Unlike Singapore, many roads in Bali are chaotic and packed with traffic and pedestrians. Some are derelict, full of potholes and with faulty traffic lights. Yet somehow, I witnessed road users conforming to an unspoken rule of the road: to watch out for one another to ensure each road user passes safely.
This was most notable at an intersection with busted traffic lights that left an endless stream of drivers negotiating their way out of the junction on their own. Each driver inched his vehicle forward as he looked to other cars for cues to move off. Eye contact was vital, as any miscommunication could cause drivers to brake abruptly, or worse, suffer a nasty knock.
Our guide, Sanjaya, 25, who has driven in Bali for seven years, said that at such intersections, drivers usually take a “first-mover’s” approach. He lets road users who inch forward first head off, assured that when it comes to his turn, other drivers will read his car’s movements and willingly give way.
“We take turns to move when there is a traffic jam. We must be patient and have respect, otherwise it will not be safe,” he said, adding that while not everyone is a patient driver, he is careful not to let his frustration get the better of him.
“When I see others driving dangerously, I slow down and just let them go,” said Sanjaya. “There is no good in being another dangerous driver.”
In bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, the situation is quite different. Road conditions are much better. Traffic lights are rarely faulty and when they do fail, traffic police are on site to direct traffic. Most drivers hardly ever have to negotiate a junction at their own discretion.
Just imagine if the traffic lights were to go down at big intersections, or what would happen if the lights at Singapore’s famous Newton Circus roundabout fail? Would drivers here be so gracious?
Based on the seven years I’ve been driving in Singapore, I bet it would be messy. Drivers in the city state are more used to insisting on their right of way, and less used to reading one another’s cues and giving way.
Any driver attempting a lastminute exit out of a highway, for example, knows how nerve-wracking it is to wrestle with the driver in the exit lane hoping to find a tiny window to slip in for the exit. In many other countries with gracious drivers, those in the exit lane will give way to let you in so you don’t miss your exit.
These are the everyday scenarios that drivers in KL and Singapore encounter.
While I was a passenger in Bali, it was my turn to take the wheel during another holiday in July with friends in Phuket, Thailand. The road along Patong Beach where we stayed was packed with visitors, especially at night when markets and tourist attractions came alive.
There were no traffic lights along the two-lane street, only the occasional zebra crossing, so it was never clear if the cars, which travelled at around 40kph, would stop to give way. Pedestrians timed their runs across the road, extending their hands to make sure drivers noticed them and stopped.
Initially, I would make sarcastic remarks whenever I was forced to stop for someone making an abrupt run, somehow so certain that I would stop in time. But when there are no rules in place, it seems that patience is a virtue essential for a busy street to function safely. Drivers would willingly slow down to let tourists cross the road, or give way for a motorcyclist backing out of a parking spot by the roadside.
And soon it became clear to me that driving patiently made using the road safer for everyone.
The culture of gracious driving grew on me as I drove about in our rented car. I even began chiming chime “qing” – Mandarin for “please” – each time I gave way to road users. I did so regardless of who had the right of way – the rule of the land in Singapore. In Singapore, drivers with the right of way often don’t give way to those without; some don’t even care to look out for others. Any deviation from the right of way is met with a flurry of loud horns.
Admittedly, these examples I’m using are merely anecdotal. In truth, road accident statistics swing in favour of Singapore, which recorded 83 fatalities in traffic accidents in 2020, among a population of some 5.7 million people. Meanwhile, Phuket recorded 106 deaths among a population of around half a million in the same year. Bali, home to 4.4 million people, recorded more than 400 road accident deaths then.
Driving conditions in densely populated Singapore, of course, are very different from Bali and Phuket, which are relatively sprawling cities.
There are clearly dangers to driving in these regions, but the fatalities do not reflect the grace that road users show to others, to make the tough road conditions feel much safer to navigate.
Busy roads like the ones in Phuket and Bali aren’t far removed from some roads Singapore, like those in Little India, Geylang and Telok Ayer, where drivers need to be alert to pedestrians who can cut across the road at any moment.
And as Singapore promotes active mobility options, with plans to triple its cycling network by 2030, drivers will have to get used to sharing road space more frequently with cyclists and other active mobility users.
Cyclists and drivers have sometimes butted heads online and in real life. Since the cost of any physical conflict is very high for cyclists, I think drivers can do more to be the bigger guy here to help less protected users be safe on the roads. Shielded in a metal bubble of one tonne or more, drivers command the toughest vehicles on the road, while other road users constantly need to fret over their safety.
The roads, too, are mostly designed with drivers in mind, sized to the width of most cars, while cyclists and motorbike riders need to be alert to cars that may encroach into their space. Simple, considerate actions such as not crowding out other road users, and giving them space and time to react to movements, can make the roads safer for all.
Cars will become less dominant on the road, with the move to cease car growth and promote sustainable mobility options. Drivers will have to learn to live harmoniously with other road users.
One thing I’m trying to do is to extend the habit I picked up in Phuket, and to be the bigger person on the road and looking out for other road users. When I see a pedestrian about to dash out, a motorcyclist filtering out or a cyclist pedalling away, I will curb my instinct to honk at them or accelerate ahead, and instead slow down, give way, with a gracious “qing” in my mind.
Gracious driving could go a long way to making our streets safer and a more pleasant experience for all road users. – The Straits Times/ Asia News Network
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