SINGAPORE: There are two things that Singaporeans are terrible at. The first is using a public toilet without wetting all critical contact areas with questionable liquids. The second: Traversing our local roads without losing all civility at the slightest provocation.
Proof of the former is presented as soon as you urgently need to use a publicly accessible toilet.
Evidence of the latter is in digital abundance all over social media. Click on any Singapore-focused Facebook group that contains the keywords “traffic” or “roads” and heated exchanges between local motorists are on full display for all to see.
Government campaigns reminding us to be more responsible throne users rather than abusers do exist – the National Environment Agency’s Clean Public Toilets initiative, for instance. While this is perhaps embarrassing enough for a modernised society, there is no equivalent “Stop Behaving Like Baboons on Roads” campaign for road users.
I do try my darndest to ensure my toilet use is respectful of others – but, in all fairness and honesty, I cannot say the same for my state of mind behind the wheel. For whatever reason, I too become an incoherent screaming ape when it comes to any form of perceived and even minor mishap or misunderstanding on our roads.
HELLO, MY NAME IS IMRAN, AND I HAVE A ROAD RAGE PROBLEM
For my first decade of being a motorist, I did not know I had a road rage problem. It was only made apparent to me when, a few months after moving back to Singapore, my wife said to me in the car, “Why are you like this whenever you drive in Singapore?”
By then, our driver-passenger relationship had been ongoing for a few years. Needless to say, it was a shocking revelation for me.
It took a lot of soul-searching for me to even admit to it.
