Road Design Road Kills

So many accidents on Singapore road in the last 2 weeks, including 3 dead Singaporean in Malaysia. The worst was the Vios which got so smashed up, even the roof was gone. 3 days later, I was driving on old Tampines road which is a small 1 lane road both ways and a small truck veered into my lane during a corner to overtake 2 bicycles. The thing is, the road is big enough for him to stay on it, he does not need to veer into the oncoming lane. I notice in left bends, instead of sticking to the side of the road, people are driving close to the lane divider, which just shows thier judgment really sux as the are afraid they will go onto the grass! You know, while driving in New Zealand, the roads are built such that during a left corner or bend, the road actually dips to the left, just like an oval race track, making it harder for cars to veer to the oncoming lane. Great design! Even in mountainous region!

To harp on road design in Singapore, those stripes which are supposed to reduce your vehicle speed should not be found in sharp bends, they are practically useless there, if the vehicle is fast, it is too late, and if they start braking during a turn, it might make the situation worst. And metals can even be found, just like the ones on KJE to TPE, when the road is wet, it can get bad as I found out a few weeks back. Made my car skid.

Found this website where road accident deaths are compared in SEA.
http://www.adb.org/Documents/News/2004/nr2004155.asp
Singapore had 211 in 2004, but Thailand had a whopping 13,116 next was Vietnam at 11,319 and Malaysia had 6,282. Now compared to New Zealand with 2006 statistics of 371, with the highest numbers in Cities, does road design helps?

With Great Power... comes Great Responsibility Part 2

April 23, 2007, 11.53 am (Singapore time)

Man charged for causing death of sales agent during test drive
By Imelda Saad, ST Interactive Reporter

By ST Interactive Reporter, Imelda Saad

THE man who caused the death of a sales consultant two years ago while test driving a sports car has finally been charged with reckless driving.

Regan Lee Da Wen, 26, appeared at the Subordinate Court on Monday, 18 months after the fatal accident.

Lee was test-driving the high-performance Mazda MX-5 in October 2005 with sales agent 22-year-old Angela He Xueli seated beside him.

He was travelling along Upper Paya Lebar Road towards Bartley Road when he lost control of the vehicle.

The car hit a central road divider, crashing into a black BMW, then flipping over and colliding into an oncoming mini-van.

The crash killed Ms He.

Lee was expressionless when the charge of reckless driving causing death, was read to him.

Straits Times Interactive understands that civil suits have also been filed against Lee by the victim's family and possibly other parties.

Lee is now out on bail of $10,000.

If convicted under the Road Traffic Act, Lee could be jailed up to 5 years.

Speaking to Straits Times Interactive, Lee's lawyer, Julian Tay, said his client has been haunted by the incident.

Mr Tay said he is unaware if Lee's license has been revoked but said he knows that Lee is 'no longer driving'.

Lee's pre-trial conference has been set for June 18.

STI Report

News from some forum

Land Speed Record 'broken' by ME!

Peak Readings from my Apexi RSM....
nothing is more important than the fact that it had
recorded my top speed at some point of time to be 2826km/h!!!

which is much faster than the speed of sound (300m/s) i reckon..
hahahaha

anyway, the funny part is over... the qnn now is that
'is my RSM bonkers???' it must be as there are no way my car
can go a mere fraction that fast.
hmmm

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has come under attack in the Malaysian parliament

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has come under attack in the Malaysian parliament for labelling one of the country’s cars the worst in the world.

The BBC presenter has been filmed attacking the Perodua Kelisa with a sledgehammer before blowing it up.

But minister Abdul Raman Suliman defended the nation’s car industry, saying Mr Clarkson was like a football commentator who cannot play football.

He told MPs, Perodua had not received a single complaint from British owners.

He added that the comments were made merely to boost sales of the Top Gear magazine.

‘Soulless’

Mr Clarkson has voiced his frustrations with the small three-cylinder model in both magazine articles and on the Top Gear motoring show.

In one article, he said its name was like a disease and suggested it was built in jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes.

And on the show, he described it as “unimaginative junk, with no soul, no flair and no passion”.

He then smashed it, hung it from a crane with a one-tonne weight attached, before blowing it up.

Perodua is Malaysia’s second national carmaker and began producing small compact models in 1995.

With Great Power... comes Great Responsibility

well, it started off with this person aka Dracon posted this on MyCarForum:

basically he is in sort of a fix when he cannot decide on a WRX STi or
Golf GTi.
looking for help from bros in the forum. he is a certain R.Lee.
and he is the one who did this:

smashed up this MX-5 in Oct 2005, and killed the sales lady there and
then. u can imagine the fire it stirred up on the forum!
esp so the police is still investigating the case, after more than a year.

thus, i say, people really do have to understand, with great power
comes with great responsibilities... any drivers driving any vehicle
have responsibility to other road users... pedestrians, bikers &
drivers alike.

so, drive carefully. be patient. think