I do apologize in advance for some of the pictures that turned out to be blurry. Hey, even Photoshop couldn't do the job when the pictures were taken while the car was moving in high speed.
So, without further ado, here's to give credit to where it's due:
The "lobang-free" roads
These are the roads in JB
and these are in S'pore
Need i say more?!
I don't know much about automobile but i did hear before about how damaging it is to your car suspension if it is always driven on uneven roads (of course unless your car is a 4-wheel drive that is meant to be used in such way). Ya, ya, of course S'pore has its fair share of uneven roads too, but it's comparatively better than that in JB.
A thing to point out is that in JB, it always takes a long time before the chuckholes are filled up, if at all. The roads in the pictures that i've taken above have had these chuckholes for as long as i can remember. The JKR just couldn't be bothered with fixing them. Most of the time, even if the roads have been fixed, the chuckholes will re-appear after a few months. It makes me wonder what kind of chuckhole fillers they are using that cause the roads to dent so easily.
The "you-can-never-be-lost" road signs
Imagine this scenario: you wanna drive to a place in S'pore but you don't know the roads at all and you are a map idiot. You ask a friend who knows S'pore rather well for directions and he tells you the place is near XXX Road, which is a major road that can be reached via the XXE and XXE (express ways). With these information, you would have no problem in getting to the place by just looking at the road signs.
In S'pore, you would see a road sign every few meters and it would be almost impossible to be lost if your destination is not too remote. Find it hard to believe how drivers can just depend on road signs for directions? Here's an example:
The first road sign at 600m away
The second road sign at 300m away (notice another one a few meter away at the back)
The third road sign showing the same directions (to Exit 22)
A few meter away showing Exit 22 (notice another road sign at the back nearby)
Another road sign showing the roundabout directions
Direction at the roundabout
If the same scenario happens in JB, you would get lost even if you are an expert in map reading. Map is not a very useful tool in JB because the roads change all the time. The road signs are not very helpful either. If you are lucky enough, you may see a road sign a few kilometers away, but then after a while, there will be no more direction and it's up to you to figure out the rest of the route.
The "won't-ask-for-kopi-lui" traffic police
I'm not saying that S'pore is 100% corruption free, but at least the police officers in S'pore would not openly asked for kopi lui ("coffee money"). In S'pore, drivers who violated the traffic law and stopped by a traffic police would never consider offering money to buy off the police. They may ask the police officer to give them a chance, but it would be a genuine plea instead of a hint to offer money. In M'sia, if you ask the police officer to "bagi chance", most of the time it is translated to "i bagi money and you let me go".
Since i'm on the topic of corruption, i would digress and relate a recent incident encountered by a friend of mine in JB. He was speeding on the highway and was caught by a speed trap. When the police officer stopped him, he was already mentally prepared that he would be fined for speeding. After my friend has handed over his license, the police officer just had a look at it and returned it to my friend. My friend was puzzled by the police officer's behaviour because if he wanted to book my friend a speeding ticket, he would have copied down the license information and not just have one look at it only.
The police officer, with a strict face, asked my friend if he wanted to pay the fine on the spot or to have the speeding ticket sent to his house. My friend was even more puzzled by this question and thought that a new law on paying for fine has been implemented, so he asked the officer what was the difference between the two. The police officer then told my friend, in a serious tone, that if he wanna pay for it on the spot, it would just cost him RM50. This was when my friend finally realized that the police officer was asking for kopi lui.
My friend saw that there were 2 other police officers around so he bargained to give the officer only RM30. The police officer agreed. My friend then opened his wallet and realized that he only had RM50 notes. He was thinking to himself that the police officer would sure just take the RM50 note, but guess what, the police officer actually took the money, went to his police car and get RM20 change for my friend!
Ya, i know, my friend has violated the law too by speeding and giving money to the police officer and i don't intend to justify his wrong doing, but we were really amazed by this incident. We were amazed at how the police officer could ask for money in such a matter-of-factly manner; we were amazed at how corruption has already turned into a normal business operation in M'sia -- you bargain, you pay, and you even get the change for any extra paid!
The "everyone-can-be-a-psychic" traffic monitoring system
Anyone who drives must have experienced traffic jam before. Sometimes you may be stuck in a heavy jam that is simply not moving and you just wish that you have taken another route instead. But how is it possible for you to know in advance which route to take if no one has pre-alerted you about the jam and you were not born with any super power to see a thousand miles?
Fear not. If you are in S'pore, you don't need super vision to know what's happening on the roads around the island. There is a very good traffic monitoring system that helps to keep the drivers informed of the traffic situation.
First off, before you leave home, you can log on the the One Monitoring Web site to see the traffic conditions at major roads. If you are in a rush and don't have the time to check it out, no problem. Just tune your car radio to any of the S'pore radio stations. They have this "Traffic Watch" announcement every now and then to inform the drivers about the traffic congestion around the island. Well, you wanna listen to your favourite music and not the radio station? Fine, no problem too. If you pay attention to the electronic road signs, you will still be able to divert your route before hitting the traffic jam area.
Electronic road signs in S'pore indicating traffic situation
In JB, there are four ways that you can avoid being stuck in a traffic jam:
- You have a friend or family member who calls you whenever he/she knows about a traffic congestion somewhere
- Pray really hard before you go out
- Walk, don't drive
- Stay at home
The "all-you-need-is-a-card" parking system
Aside from the HDB parking lots, most shopping malls in S'pore use Cash Card[1] to deduct the parking fees. No more hassle of coupons or parking tickets. All you need to do is to ensure that the Cash Card is topped up with sufficient balance. At the exit, the parking system will deduct the parking fee from the Cash Card that is inserted into the parking machine or In-Vehicle Unit (IU)[2]. A few HDB parking lots have also started implementing this system. Compared to JB, this is a more convenient and faster way to pay for your parking fees.
[1] Cash Card is a stored-value card that is widely used in S'pore for many purposes, such as buying groceries at 7-Eleven, making calls in telephone booths, buying stuff from vending machines, paying for photocopying, library fines and self-service parking ticket.
[2] IU is a small device that is placed on the dashboard of the car for inserting Cash Card. The device is mainly used for communicating with the ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) gantry for deducting the right amount from the Cash Card.
Oh, by the way, before anyone starts calling me a traitor who sucks up to S'pore and puts down M'sia, you should read Part I and also understand my love-hate relationship with the lion city. I may not be a patriot, but i'm definitely not a traitor.
