Championship Drivers
Gee, yesterday I wrote on Singapore "Elites". And Today, I met up with our very own locally bred "Championship" driver(s).
This "Championship" driver(s) breed is a usual sight on local streets. They are commonly known as "Taxi Drivers".
This is another group of people who never fail to irk people.
Just this evening, I happened to be crossing a junction just outside Bukit Panjang Plaza. I was crossing a 3-lane road when the green man came on. When I was just 3 steps away from the middle of the junction, one SMRT taxi approached from the 1 o'clock position and it seems to me that the taxi is swerving to his right. Coming right at me. My eyes never left the taxi as it approached nearer. Somewhere deep in my heart, there is a small voice telling me that the bugger of a taxi driver was not going to stop even though the green man was still flashing in my favor.
He didn't stop. Just drove through the junction, like I wasn't even there. The driver even cleverly looked in the opposite direction because he knew I would be staring right at him.
Seriously, although I've been learning to control my temper, this was one of the special cases where I allowed myself a no-holds-barred explosion of temper. Well, of course I could not resort to screaming at him or attempting to throw a few punches or kung-fu kicks at his taxi. I cursed under my breath, crossed the junction and I stopped to see where he was headed. To my delight, he made a turn further down the road and made a right u-turn into the 4 year old estate's driveway. I walked right down to the pathway running adjacent to the driveway, stood on the edge, and whipped out my mobilephone, selected the camera function and aimed right at the taxi. He approached me, and I thought to myself, "end of the road for you, sucker" then I clicked the "Snap" button. To my dismay, utter dismay, the picture taken was the side body of the taxi. My phone's camera simply did not respond quickly enough to capture the registration number of the darned vehicle. I was so mad and so disappointed. All I could do was walk away in fury.
Taxi drivers think they are the cream of the crop. They think they are king of the road. Just because they are making a living driving people around on the streets of Singapore, they have the right of way. They zip in and out of highway lanes, tailgate cars, trying to vy for the empty space in front of any moving vehicles. Realise the familiarity of it ? Again, struggling to be first, struggling to be faster than everyone else. But of course! These are Singaporean Taxi Drivers!
I was never ever impressed with our local taxi drivers. Perhaps kudos to them for their knowledge of the complex network of roads in Singapore. But thats all there is to it.
I must say that this post certainly sounds offensive to readers who might have friends, relatives or even family members who are taxi drivers. I'd like to apologise first, if I've offended any of you by doing so, but please advise them to be more considerate for other road users if they have not been so previously.
This "Championship" driver(s) breed is a usual sight on local streets. They are commonly known as "Taxi Drivers".
This is another group of people who never fail to irk people.
Just this evening, I happened to be crossing a junction just outside Bukit Panjang Plaza. I was crossing a 3-lane road when the green man came on. When I was just 3 steps away from the middle of the junction, one SMRT taxi approached from the 1 o'clock position and it seems to me that the taxi is swerving to his right. Coming right at me. My eyes never left the taxi as it approached nearer. Somewhere deep in my heart, there is a small voice telling me that the bugger of a taxi driver was not going to stop even though the green man was still flashing in my favor.
He didn't stop. Just drove through the junction, like I wasn't even there. The driver even cleverly looked in the opposite direction because he knew I would be staring right at him.
Seriously, although I've been learning to control my temper, this was one of the special cases where I allowed myself a no-holds-barred explosion of temper. Well, of course I could not resort to screaming at him or attempting to throw a few punches or kung-fu kicks at his taxi. I cursed under my breath, crossed the junction and I stopped to see where he was headed. To my delight, he made a turn further down the road and made a right u-turn into the 4 year old estate's driveway. I walked right down to the pathway running adjacent to the driveway, stood on the edge, and whipped out my mobilephone, selected the camera function and aimed right at the taxi. He approached me, and I thought to myself, "end of the road for you, sucker" then I clicked the "Snap" button. To my dismay, utter dismay, the picture taken was the side body of the taxi. My phone's camera simply did not respond quickly enough to capture the registration number of the darned vehicle. I was so mad and so disappointed. All I could do was walk away in fury.
Taxi drivers think they are the cream of the crop. They think they are king of the road. Just because they are making a living driving people around on the streets of Singapore, they have the right of way. They zip in and out of highway lanes, tailgate cars, trying to vy for the empty space in front of any moving vehicles. Realise the familiarity of it ? Again, struggling to be first, struggling to be faster than everyone else. But of course! These are Singaporean Taxi Drivers!
I was never ever impressed with our local taxi drivers. Perhaps kudos to them for their knowledge of the complex network of roads in Singapore. But thats all there is to it.
I must say that this post certainly sounds offensive to readers who might have friends, relatives or even family members who are taxi drivers. I'd like to apologise first, if I've offended any of you by doing so, but please advise them to be more considerate for other road users if they have not been so previously.
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