If it ain't broke, break it

In mid-July, LTA did a really stupid thing. And I thought it was an accident waiting to happen. Well I was right!

As Today reported, there is now a total of 8 accidents over the past 3 working days at the junction of Cecil Street and Robinson Road(see star on map). Surely, that makes it the most dangerous spot in Singapore. But I wasn't expecting car accidents. Instead I was thinking that sooner or later, someone's going to get knocked down by a car.

You see, I pass by this junction to and from work almost everyday. Previously there were traffic lights where pedestrians could cross safely. After they were removed, pedestrians still cross at the same junction. If you see the amount of traffic there, especially during knocking off hours, you'll fear for them! Imagine 10-20 people at one time, squeezing into the narrow divider while cars zoom pass them. Dangerous!

You could hardly blame the pedestrians too. Like for me, I often go over to Republic Plaza where my gym's located. Even after a few months, like the traveling salesman, I'm still trying to figure out which is the shortest way for me to get from the Cosco Building over to Republic Plaza (because I think it's too dangerous to jaywalk). I could use the mrt underpass, but there're so many exits in there. No matter which I tried, it seemed like I have to cover up to 3 times the distance to get to Republic Plaza, which is like only 10m away if I just cross the road directly.

LTA has done a few things since then. Firstly they put up a kerb divider to prevent cars from Robinson Road entering straight into D'Almeida Street. This, apparently, is the whole motive behind the changes. Then they removed the kerb to prevent pedestrians from standing on it. This led to cars from Robinson Road unknowingly banging into cars coming from Cecil Street, because they didn't see the flat divider. This morning I saw that they have put up bright yellow poles. But nothing they do could prevent the jaywalkers. Something has to be done quick before someone gets injured.

Haiz, a classic case of if it ain't broke, don't fix it.