Some years agi, my vehicle ran over one of these bumps in
Sengkang, and had to spend some money re-aligning the front wheels
of my car. I wrote in to HDB, but have gottent NO REPLY from
them.
Now, it has finally made it into the New Papers....
As usual, I always say they always have to wait till sh|t Hits the
Fan...
Is it so hard for them to revise an idea if it is unsuitable? Is it
so hard to admit mistakes and or stupidities? They must think the
world of themselves if it is so...
======================================
Small Bump, BIG
DANGER?
Residents in Sembawang estate say dome-shaped road dividers
may be hazardous to motorists
By Zaihan Mohamed Yusof
July 14, 2007
YOU may not see these mini road dividers. They are just 4cm
high.
The paint on the 4cm dome-shaped dividers is chipped and fading,
making it difficult to stand out as it blends with the road.
But if you hit one of them, you can end up in hospital.
That is what one fast food delivery man found out last week.
Witnesses said his motorcycle wheel went over one of the dividers
and he was thrown off.
He was unable to walk, and had to be taken to the hospital, claimed
witnesses at a coffeeshop nearby, on Sembawang Drive Block
313A.
Now, some local residents want the 'strange-looking' dividers
removed as soon as possible. They are a hidden danger to motorists,
they said.
The seven concrete dividers are spaced out along a 15m stretch of
road within the estate. Cat's-eye reflectors are placed at the
start and end.
POOR MAINTENANCE
But there is not much of paint to be seen on the dividers and most
of them are chipped - the result of many motorists knocking into
them, said residents.
A hawker, who gave his name only as Ah Goh, from Long Kee Hainanese
Chicken Rice, recalled one crash.
'I was working when I heard a crash. The delivery rider was
bleeding and holding on to his knee,' he said.
Pointing to the damaged divider, he added: 'You can still see where
his motorbike hit the divider. Luckily, there weren't any oncoming
vehicles.'
The KPT coffeeshop where Ah Goh works is just 10m away.
The dividers were installed more than a month ago, and on the very
first day a van had crashed into one of them, said stall assistant
Wong Sik Moi, 48. The divider that was hit was broken and had to be
replaced.
'They are small and hard to see,' said Madam Wong. 'At night,
they're almost invisible.'
'Office workers who have their meals at the coffeeshop and those
not from this estate usually run into the dividers because they
don't realise their presence.
'Why not replace them with normal road dividers? They are safer and
more visible.'
Madam Wong said she was aware of at least four people who had hit
the dividers. Two of them were drivers, and the other two were
senior citizens making their way to the coffeeshop at night, she
said.
Some residents, however, said the mini dividers are necessary. Said
Mr Bernard Tan, 33, a production supervisor: 'If the dividers are
not there, drivers will always park illegally so that they can eat
at the coffeeshop without paying for parking.
'They can easily park at the multi-storey carpark instead of
blocking the road. Some drivers also make illegal U-turns at the
narrowest part of the the two-lane road instead of doing it further
down.'
Suggestions from the residents include installing blinkers on the
dividers and repainting them.
Others just want them removed.
COMPLAINTS
The Sembawang Town Council Office said it was monitoring the
situation. It had received two complaints from residents, who had
seen vehicles hitting the dividers.
A spokesman for the town council said that before the dividers were
built, there had been numerous complaints about vehicles parking
illegally there.
The spokesman said the dividers were under the purview of
HDB.
The New Paper contacted HDB, but it was unable to comment by press
time.