Found this in today's ST Forum page H8:



"I write to call attention to the increasingly worrying trend of sports cars racing on the main roads.

On Saturday, at around 1.40am, my boyfriend and I were driving along Bras Basah Road when we heard the screech of car engines.

More than 10 cars zoomed past us in quick succession, with a few cutting into our lane.

I have seen cars racing along other roads a few times but what prompted me to write in was the size of this car-racing group.

The fact that the drivers had the audacity to race in such a big group clearly shows the lack of police enforcement.

Further more, it seemed that the racers were taking the proposed F1 race route as they zoomed towards the Esplanade.

Perhaps bringing the F1 to Singapore has emboldened them.



The racers clearly endangered the lives of innocent road users like myself.

I made a 999 call immediately to report the race but there was no response from the other end when the call was picked up.

I managed to speak to a police officer only when I called a second time.

I hope the police will step up enforcement action against car racing urgently.

I also wish to find out the reason for the lack of response to my first 999 call."



TAN Siew Woan (Ms)

Tuesday 12 June 2007 ST Forum



My opinion:

Get a life.

Stop whining.

Accept the fact that there ARE going to be races whether F1 is coming or not.

Street racing is a sub-culture, an ongoing community that binds. You can enforce all you want, but at the end, still ends up the same or worse. Its like holding a toothpaste tube tightly until it explodes. The more you control, the bigger the impact.

In the FIRST place, what the HELL are you doing driving along Bras basah road in the middle of the morning to encounter such races?

This woman just sounds like a goddamn whiner and TYPICAL local. If the law catches up, the law will eventually catch up. Don't have to be a hero and go whine about it in ST.

I am really fed up with all the locals coming from beneath their stones to just whine about this and that. If you can't handle that sh*t, STAY AT HOME with your BF and do whatever you want to do...WHO CARES!

So what, the police is now going to patrol the ENTIRE island with TP and ROV bikes and rexes?? crazy...then might as well just ban import of performance cars....

no ferraris, no lambos, no evos, no wrxs, no hondas.......

why do we always have all these sort of heros around ar?

NO WONDER our motorsports scene in Singapore is way below the rest of the world...BECAUSE of these sort of idiots writing articles like these and prompting the government to think otherwise.....

they should be strung up and shot

my 2 cents.

the local media guy.

 

yeah~ silly.....maybe she is just driving too slow and thinking that the cars are racing... prob they just exceed the road limit by 20-30km/hr... women~

 

Mabbe she just jealous that she is in a Getz or Piccanto. If she was driving a tiong chia, she would have chased those guys. hahahaha........

 

sorry guys i disagree with you. she has every right to 'whine'. if these jokers racing and manage to kill one of your loved ones walking along the streets then i'll see if you still think she is whining. its not about performance cars, its about responsibility. for eg the guy in the MR-S who died. thats too bad. but sad to say he dragged his GF down as well. hopefully she'll live. i mean if you race and die so be it. if you race and kill others, you deserve to be sorry the rest of you life as well.

if nothing happens when street racing, all is fine and well and you can say that she whines. if some are killed because of this then how? esp if its someone you know that gets kill. then you say its too bad or what the hell is he or she doing, walking along that stretch at 2am? or will you curse the people who kill him or her?

 

It ok to street race if you own the road. Or like what people say. "Your grandfather's road"

Social responsibility. Maturity.

 

Emperor: Sorry to burst your bubble. I got a road named after my grandfather, so technically its his and yet I still cant do what I like.

IMO: As for the writer, street racing has always been around since the introduction of cars here in singapore. Ask your dads if you arent sure. What the writer does
nt say is that she tihinks we live in a nanny state. I am sure the police has better things to do than to take up every call regard stray cats, birds, mosquitos, crows, racing cars etc.

Its just part of society that people just want to express themselves -- whether dressing up all punk, gothic or as little as possible. Taking her line of reasoning, then we need to have a religious police and catch all teh girls who are bad influence on others for dressing too skimpily. I am sure you hot blood guys arent against that.

If we want to develop a society that has to move up-stream into a knowledge, creative based economy, we will have to take the good & the bad -- they are both sides of the same coin. We need to let people express themselves... boy racers or otherwise. But they will also need to learn responsibility... you cant legislate that.

 

i agree with mkl22 and emperor.

everyone in this forum like to drive fast...it is just where and when we do it.

i am sure she has every right to be at bras basah in the middle on the night/morning or anytime she wants right? Put it this way...just because racers going round OG or driving near that area doesn't mean she cannot be driving there right?

I am also fed up with those people not liking car racing (F1) to kao peh about the noise level etc...but what can we do? Just like i kao peh about the inconvenience about closing of orchard road for Chingay festival. The people who loves chingay will also say i am whining.

Seriously, i was also overtaken many times by people racing on Singapore roads. just cut here and there. i also tell myself 'f*cking idiots'. However, my anger stops at 'f*cking idiots' because i know how the street racers feel. But for the lady, of cos she is scared during that time mah. imagine if she has to swerve suddenly to avoid them and end up hitting something else. Who will be at fault? Not the 10 cars who zoomed past her cos she won't know who the hell they were.

Whether motorsports standards in Singapore is below the rest of the world is one thing. Preventing accidents through reckless street racing is the other. 2 different issues altogether. Like pineapple tarts and 100 plus (sorry ah....i am eating and drinking them right now)

I am waiting for someone to say 'Want to drive fast, take it to track. you can drive as hard and as fast as you want'

cliché it may sound...but i think its the most sensible thing to do when driving. Want to endanger people's life, do it elsewhere. Don't regret only after something has happened.

 

Knn..pineapple tarts and 1oo plus?? like tat oso can add post ah??

 

Wah.. own self eat lor.. never invite lor.. Nvm, I eat my Chickadees and drink my chrysanthemum myself (all yellow hor?)

Seriously tho, everyone has the right to whine just like what we are doing here in this thread - whining about the whiny lady. Even the racers have the right to race along Bras Basah, why? Coz they oso take driving test, get license, buy nice car, pay road tax, get insurance (assumption lah). Everyone has the right to do what they want, but since what they did is illegal, then there are repercussions that come with their actions. Meaning TP got right to catch them oso. I've often wondered, if the maximum legal street limit is 90km/h and if the gahment really wanted to control every single aspects of our lives, why did they not electronically limit all regular cars to say 100km/h or max 120km/h? Since it's not the case, what does that imply?

 

Everyone is entitled to freedom of expression; provided it does not infringe on the rights of others or endanger others.

I speed too. With restraint and sense. And only to my destination.

Yes, my father does own some roads. I could do reckless stuff but what would people think of my dad and me.

 

Dear Jondog,

A commentary like yours is no less whiny as hers. The only difference is the size of the forum which the whining took place.

Given your 2 cents, if I may distill the essence of it, "what will be will be". I do not understand your 2 cents at all, since if it were applied without prejudice, there will always be people who drive fast as well as people who object to driving fast.

Then "your" 2 cents doesn't quite belong to you, doesn't it?

Of course that 2 cents could simply borrowed out of your daddy's pockets or misappropriated from another source, please make me eat my words.

Thank you.

 

"The freedom to swing my fist stops short of my neighbour's nose"

If someone was throwing your baby girl high up into the air, and even though he catches her every time, would you keep quiet? Racers may not actually hit anyone during a given race, but is the potential for carnage there? Can anyone honestly say that the probablility for serious harm isn't higher than in normal driving? In civil society, who else can enforce public safety but the police? Is anything more annoying than someone who writes an entire paragraph using only questions?

Sorry, jondog, the logic abt the motorsports thing is wrong.. Many of the best F1 drivers come from countries where people drive civilly, indicate while changing lanes, give way to other drivers, and don't honk all the time. While the street racing subculture is alluring, what this culture doesn't ensure while it spreads, is that the people it spreads to have enough skill to handle the speed. You may be skilled enough, but what if some kokhead tries to emulate you and crashes into a bus stop? Even at that time in the morning, everyone with a valid license has a right to be using the road (or bus stop, if you 'car' is the hokkien type).

Since we're all taking spurious extensions of each others' lines of logic, how about this: "As for the writer, street racing has always been around since the introduction of cars here in singapore. Ask your dads if you arent sure." -- Murder has been around since the dawn of civilisation (wah, my example goes back even furthur than yours). We should just accept it and shut up even if it happens to our loved ones.

Murder is different from street racing, you say? Then aren't these things ("stray cats, birds, mosquitos, crows, racing cars etc.") also different things with different implications and consequences? I seriously doubt that a stray cat has as much chance of killing me as a bad driver who thinks he's damn saat, racing his car through the street, thinking he has as much of a right driving like that on public roads as I have starting a bonfire on the public corridor outside his flat.

I say again, if you can make sure that every single street racer is damn skilled, then street racing is ok. And don't believe the claim that 'practice makes perfect'.. practice only makes progress, which can be damn slow. Just ask my cousin who took 12 tries to pass her driving license. And if you think the only way ppl can get so skilled is to street race more, just remember Mr Schumacher didn't get so good racing on the streets. He did so training on go-karts.

 

*Applause* Couldn't have said it better.

 

Without Prejudice

I guess everyone has got a different sets of opinion here. Ultimately, for those that decide to put their driving skills to test better count their blessing that they do not get caught by the law enforcement or worst, injured or killed another dear road user. Cos you will pay dearly for the mistake and got to live with many sleepness nights.

I personally knew someone that was involved in a serious accident killing innocent pedestrains. Besides facing punishment by the law, it also changed his entire life and personality. Today, he'll never dare to put his hands on the steering wheel again.

No one can decide how you can or going to drive. IMO, if you want to street race, make sure you are ready to pay the price when sh@# happens.

As for the ST article, it is not wise to question the authorities. F1 is approved for economy reason and I'm sure every single Singaporean will benefit from it somehow or rather and it is not fair to relate the approval of F1 to those street racer that she experienced that morning. If she is so overly concerned and upset with it, why not join the law enforcement and see how she can set the law to please her ego. Driving is also considered endangering her own life as number of fatal accidents are caused by negligence driving rather than street racing. Now, how can we stop that from happening too???

real 2 sense!

 

i kenna 'boy-racer' tag liaoz har....


sob sob......

 

but bro...some ******** REALLY did try to emulate some of us and REALLY crash into the bus-stop leh.....

but your views are yours to comment....i didn't post this article and responded just to let everyone see only my point lar....posting these sort of threads must always expect both sides of the picture.

noted.

now you guys know why i seldom 'try' to join for your meets? =) kenna blacklisted!

 

erm...ok...i dun REALLY get what you mean here, but its really just my point of view bro.

she had hers, i had mine, plus quite alot of other ppl.
diff ppl buy vehicles for diff reasons.
diff ppl view life differently too.

i'm just amazed that she had the 'audacity' to question our local authorities in such manner.

nways, that's the reason why i don't and i can't join you guys your regular meets...diff perspectives mean diff driving styles. but on track..that's a diff matter...

cheers

 

1. Yeah, that was what I was driving at... since we can't stop 'little kids' from copying us, we got no choice but to set a good example. The risks are too high.

2. bro, dun lai dat leh, must be thick skin a bit.. open society means that debate must occur to hone our thoughts and views, but it must never be personal. Can't speak for anyone else, but I didn't mean to sound harsh..

After all, our views on a particular topic only make up a very tiny fraction of who we are. No one should be 'blacklisted' just because of that. We must be more like ang moh, whack here whack there verbally, but after that all go drink beer together... but dun be as kpo as them lah :D

PS: you might be glad to hear that not just locals are whiney.. wait till you read the forum section in Aust n UK papers. (dunno abt anywhere else, i neber read yet)

 

haha...no worries Rumboo...i'm always open to 'discussions' anywhere....so usd to getting flamed so skin quite thick already....


now if only everyone had your attitude in life...all will be good anywhere...

=)

 

Street racing is illegal, and there's a good reason for that: it needlessly endangers both lives and property. No matter how good the driver is (or thinks he is), the fact remains that accidents are more likely to occur at high speeds (especially in a race) compared to low speeds, and the consequences of an accident are also likely to be far more severe.

Any licensed driver has the right to drive on the roads, be it 3pm or 3am. Street racers on the other hand do not have the right to race on the roads, no matter what time of the day it is, and whether the streets are empty or not.

Why is it so difficult for street racers to accept that? It seems to boil down to this: I enjoy it, therefore I have a right to do it, no matter what danger it poses to others. How selfish is that?