When the Minister of National Development - Mah Bow Tan - opened
the CTE, he said that it will be impossible for the Government to
continue to build roads so as to keep up with the size of the car
population that continue to increase in geometrical speed.
This seems to be a sad reflection of his failed policy of keeping
car population under control with his brain child of the COE
scheme, which he implemented as the Minister of
Communication.
However, he failed to understand that by the time the Highway was
opened, time will have already passed for the various stages of
building the Highway - from decision to go ahead, to planning the
design and preparing the ground, the construction itself, and
finally opening - all of which takes more then SEVEN YEARS.
The design of the CTE was already SEVEN YEAR'S OLD by the time it
is opened.
Surprisingly, CTE was designed after AYE, and yet the CTE do not
have the improvements of WIDER lanes, which was incorporated in the
AYE during upgrading.
If one compare the width of the lanes amongst all the Expressways
in Singapore, the AYE has the widest WIDTH PER LANE, with the PIE
(the stretch from Bukit Timah Shopping Centre to Adam Road Fly
Over) being the narrowest.
Along the AYE, there will be at least ONE meter space on both sides
of any vehicles when it is travelling along the dotted lines of any
lane; while along the PIE, there is barely 0.5 meters on both side
of any vehicles.
The other poor design caused by poor LTA thinking, and from first
hand experience, one can see every "kiasu-and-kiasee "
Singaporeans, slowing down about ONE kilometer before the Speed
Camera along the AYE, BKE, CTE, ECP, and the PIE.
This bad habit has resulted in the heavy traffic moving at about
70kmh during peak hours, to suddenly slow down further to a speed
of 40 to 50kmh just before the Camera.
It is these Speed Cameras that act like a valve that throttle the
flow of the traffic, which also has been the cause of multiple car
pile up during the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The last design fault in the Singapore traffic management policy is
the absurd speed limit of 50kmh throughout Singapore, unless
otherwise indicated.
Nearly all speed limits on Singapore roads are made to cause
Singaporeans to be traffic offenders.
The speed limits do not allow Singaporean Drivers to exercise one's
own judgment, to adjust one's speed according to traffic and road
condition.
At 02:00hrs, most roads are quite empty, and there are hardly any
cars within sight at any stretch of ONE KILOMETER along any roads
at this hour.
Yet the speed limit of 80-90kmh on Expressways have to be
maintained, and 50kmh along all roads are to be followed.
Try driving at 50kmh along the 3-lane roadway along
Adam-Farrer-Lornie Roads, or Hougang Avenue 3, or Ang Mo Kio Avenue
1, or Upper Thomson Road and Bukit Timah-Upper Bukit Timah Roads at
02:00hrs to 06:00hrs, and the snail speed will make one go crazy
trying to get home safely to bed.
The average sensible Singaporean Driver is prevented from
exercising one's own initiative and judgment to drive even at a
safe speed of 80kmh at 02:00hrs along such wide roadways, with
hardly any traffic in sight.
With so many regulations in place that require Singaporeans to
follow rigidly, and with no flexible allowance to exercise personal
initiative, judgment, and self-discipline, little wonder that the
X-Factor has been so sadly suppressed and lost.
Footnote:
Somehow, this Minister of National Development seemed to have
conveniently forgotten - that in his capacity as a Minister of
Communication - he had also said that when COE is in place to
control the growth of the car population, and when ERP is also in
place to have a fairer pricing of road usage, then Road Tax will be
reduced.
Yet up till this date, with both the COE and ERP is place, Road Tax
- which have shot up to over 300% from the rates charged in 1975 -
have only been reduced by only 20%.
Should we believe what is being told to us - especially by this
creative person who seem to make very wonderul and simple
explanations of some very sensitve issues ?
He had also convinced Singaporeans to accept the change of SingTel
charges of $30 per month per Household, to one of 0.10 cents per 3
minutes usage; and had assured Singaporeans that their telephone
bills will not exceed the $30 per month charges unless their usage
is "more than normal".
Today, most Singaporean Household are paying between $60 to $150
per month - and some even more.
