Saw from a TV show preview on the Singapore Media Corp's Channel U that there will be a talk show (in Mandarin) about bloggers tonight at 9.30pm. If i wasn't mistaken, the notorious female Singaporean blogger will be on the show. From the preview, it seems like there's gonna be a rather heated arguement in the show. Will sure tune in to see what it's all about.
We were stuck in a rather serious traffic congestion at the Tuas checkpoint this morning. There were a lot of lorries and motorcycles fully occupying two lanes. Whenever there's a traffic jam, some smart-ass motorcyclists will try to cut in the queue by overstepping into the 3rd lane that is meant for the cars. This always causes the 3rd lane to be left with a very narrow space and the cars must move slowly to avoid being scratched at the sides.
The typical situation at the Tuas checkpoint during traffic jam (This is just an illustration. The motorcycles NEVER queue up in such orderly manner.)
However, this morning was a bit different. The cars weren't moving slowly; we were NOT moving at all. The traffic built up so quickly all the way back that some drivers even got impatient and started honking. These people were really idiots. C'mon, there's a traffic jam. If it's not moving, it's not moving. What's the use of honking except making yourself and others more annoyed and impatient?!
After we had been stationary for more than 15 minutes, we began to suspect that something was terribly wrong. It couldn't take that long for a car to clear the immigration booth and security checking. Then 贝 said that he believed one of the cars in front must be stuck at a particular point and couldn't move forward.
That particular point he was talking about was an accident area on the 2nd-Link bridge. About two weeks back, on our way home, we saw a huge container truck capsized over the curbstones of the middle divider.
A container truck overturned on the curbstones of the middle divider
The curbstones and safety isle were badly damaged, and barricades were put around the area, rendering a narrower space for cars to pass through in the 3rd lane at that particular area. For the past two weeks, the cars would have to cut a bit to the 2nd lane to go by this area. However, the 2nd lane was full with motorcycles this morning and perhaps that was why the car didn't have the extra space to maneuver. Since we were still far away from the barricaded area, we couldn't be sure if this was indeed the case.
The barricades blocking the cars from moving forward
Just as we were wondering how much longer we were gonna be stuck in the jam, we saw a guy walking past us on the safety isle towards the immigration complex (which was far in front). 贝 and i conjectured that he must be going to the toilet as the wait was too long to bear. Then i thought to myself that this guy must be having a full bladder or bowel to be willing to walk that far to the toilet... Well, we were wrong.
贝 saw this guy, instead of walking all the way to the complex, stopped somewhere in front and talked to a driver in a car. Just as we were wondering what he was doing and if he knew the driver, 贝 saw him started moving the barricades! Apparently, he had thought the same as us and knew that a car must be stuck at the barricaded area, not able to move forward. So instead of waiting in the line stretching all the way back, this guy took the initiatives to push the barricades closer to the side so that the lane became wide enough for a car to pass through.
And with that, all the cars could finally move forward. As we drove on, i saw him walking back to his car, which should be quite far behind because we couldn't see which car was his from the rear view mirror.
After this, it took us less than 5 minutes to clear the checkpoint because it turned out that there weren't any cars at all after the barricaded area. So this means that the driver who was stuck had been waiting there for a long time, perhaps waiting for the motorcycles to move so that he could take the chance to cut into the 2nd lane and bypass the barricades.
I think we might do the same too, just like we stayed in the car and waited rather than did something about it, even though we had already guessed that the barricades were causing the traffic jam. In fact, other than that guy, no one else had taken any actions to rectify the situation. All we did was just wait and got frustrated, instead of proactively solving the problem.
This incident had me thinking. Most of the time, there are more than one approach to a problem. Yet, our minds are often fixated on one particular solution that we don't even consider other alternatives, which may actually be more effective and efficient, and may even benefit more people than just ourselves. When we are faced with problems in life, it pays to be proactive in our approach instead of just reacting passively.
Again, another lesson learnt. What a way to start a Monday morning.
