A Singapore Biker’s Life

I have been a regular @ Looi’s motor for quite a number of years now.

But of recent, the prices of their "stuff" has become alittle too expensive.

In the past, they were about 10-15% more expensive than the other places but… for those bikers who knows me knows that I do not mind paying alittle more for the convenience and with the piece of mind that Meng Tong was servicing my bike.

But recently, the prices went up so much… it was scary and I had to make a decision to… DIY.

My bike has some problem starting some time ago and it was concluded that it was the battery that was giving the problem… Funny thing is that the last time I changed the battery was about 1 yr ago and I changed it @ Looi’s.

Anyway when I was there, I asked for the price of changing the battery… an old guy sitting there quoted me $120.
*As I did not ride there… (my battery was flat). I intended to change it myself anyway. He still quoted me $120???!!!

I had a feeling that the price was alittle on the high side so I gave a call to Small Boy aka Derick.

And he quoted me…

$80!

My goodness the difference was too much!
$120 vs $80
What was going on?
Was the old guy on commission? Was it another brand?

In the past, it was quite well known that people whom have purchased their bikes @ Looi’s usually have priority for servicing and gets a slightly better price compared to walk in customers.

But… Times seems to have changed…

Regular / supporting customer now share the similar "benefits" as the rest now.
None.

Anyway, it was rather easy to change the battery & it took me (I never did this before) only 30 mins to make the change.

Should I continue to give my support to my Favorite bike shop & Mechanic?
For those who knows me… I have been supporting them for years, and have even recommended countless of customer to them too. I even tried to justified their professional service and additional benefits for their slightly higher rates.

But now… I cannot seem to find any more reason to….

Sorry Ben.

Bad Traffic Conditions??

Chances are that it’s due to Road Hogs.

But these are no ordinary road hogs, but big road hogs.

These picts were taken on the same "stretch" of road but of different vehicles.

What to look out for??

Noticed that there are heavy vehicles on the right lanes? Well, they were not making a right turn, that’s for sure as there were none there.

So why were they driving on the extreme right lanes then?
Your guess is as good as mine.

But one thing that I can comment about such actions, these Big road hogs are slow to pick up and they hog up all the lanes creating a bottle neck on the roads.
*Did anyone noticed that the reason why there are more ERPs are because of heavy traffic as well?

Should call 4 or 5 vehicles be allowed to "overtake"?
If my memory serves me correctly, they were only allowed to take the extreme left lanes on the expressways. But what happened? They can be found on even on all the lanes other than the extreme right lanes.
*But many a times, I have witnessed some vans traveling on the extreme right lanes as well. I believe you will have too if you use the expressway @ least once a day.

**Not too long ago, a lorry full of foreign workers met and accident and all 13 of them were thrown off the lorry and if I remember correctly, 1 or 2 of them died. I am wondering what was the speed of the lorry to have caused such an impact?

Another pict to share.

There were 2 lanes that could turn right. But why was the truck on the right turning lane which was meant to be for the faster vehicles?

Sometimes I do feel that the authorities could do more / do better on this area which would do lots to improve the traffic conditions.

What say you?

My suggestions:
1. To ban all class 4 and 5 vehicles from over taking and keep on the extreme left lane on all roads

2. To enforce and lower the speed limit of class 4 and 5 vehicles to be @ 50km/h

3. To limit the lanes class 3 heavy vehicles are allowed to travel on.
e.g. only the extreme left lane + 1 for over taking

4. All class 4 & 5 vehicles are also allowed to use bus lanes during all timings. (Debatable)

What else can I say??

See the picts.

Anyway, for those who may have the same problem, you may call this 24 hr number and report this.

Car Park Enforcement
1800-2721409

See the Mit Galant above, there were other lots that was available but he / she just had to park on the bike lots.

From
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_151327.html

Aug 24, 2007
Teen killed after he was hit by SBS bus

A 16-year-old boy was killed in an accident at Hougang Central around 7am on Friday, while on his way to school.

The SBS bus service no. 27, was making a right turn from Hougang
Central towards Hougang Ave 10 when it collided into the boy who was
crossing the road.

Gabriel Goh Wee Siang, a student of Holy Innocents’ High, was pronounced dead by paramedics at about 7.30 am.

The bus driver is helping the police with investigations.

According to school principal Pauline Wong, who spoke to The
Straits Times, the accident was witnessed by one of Gabriel’s teachers,
who alerted the school and called the ambulance.

Two other teachers, along with the school’s operations manager, then rushed down to the accident site to render help.

Mrs Wong said counselling is now being given to help affected students cope.

The school has also postponed its preliminary examinations for
the GCE ‘O’ and ‘N’ levels, which were scheduled to take place on
Monday.

Co-curricular activities too were cut for the day.

Mrs Wong said Gabriel was a good student and a prominent scout and student leader.

——–

In an article, the paper also mentioned that the company was considering terminating the driver’s employment. Honestly, I do not see the point of doing that but I sure hope that it’s not a move to avoid bad publicity.

Anyway, should these companies be responsible of their employees? In this case, the bus drivers? In recent weeks, there have been many cases of drivers getting involved in accident due to various reasons like, drug abuse, bad driving records etc etc.

Doesn’t transport companies like these "screen" through their candidates / captains?

Should these companies be "made" partially responsible for such accidents as well?
Be it by Heavy fines, Be it by heavy compensations to victim’s family etc.

What kind of security are the public given if all they can do is announce that the responsible driver’s services has been terminated? Are the authorities being "strict" enough with the "criteria" of their selection of their employees?

What kind of punishments should the companies of these drivers be slapped with to ensure that they are more careful with the people they employ?

My heart goes to the family whom the boy involved in the accident.

It’s supposed to be illegal in Singapore but so many people is still doing it.

Juzt now, @ a junction of Upper Paya Lebar & Serangoon road.
Saw this 4489…
Well, see it for yourself.
It was @ a red light on my direction when I took this…
*Luckily, the 810’s start up is quite fast.

Some parking places are a real nightmare…

These are some picts taken @ Orchard Plaza’s car park.

*The slop down this car park is "quite" steep.
Imagine me @ the gentry with my 300kg bike stuck coz they don’t allow bikes.
How am I supposed to "push" my bike out?

Also note how far the barrier reaches to the wall?

What would you do??

I exiting from CTE @ AMK Ave 1.

The exit was 3 lanes (towards boundry road), and…
The Firetruck took 1 lane, there was a "mini cone" on the second… and everyone was supposed to use the last lane.

And the guy in white was more like "inspecting" the Fireman’s work than controlling the traffic.
*I dun see him wearing his yellow "signaling" gloves
Imagine the chaos, 3 lanes merging into 1 turning lane without anyone controlling traffic.

Well, this was what I saw…

Some of the bike lots are so tiny that they can hardly fit a normal 200cc bike… and 1 or 2 of my previous bikes were "knocked" down coz some of these drivers were too… sigh..

What do you think, will you park if you were me?
*I am parking very close to the other bike lot.

Also, check out these lots…
Are they even lots? No parking? Car Park??

I rest my case.

If he had parked further right, the bikers would have more place to move to the parking lot.

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I was going to send those picts to the authorities and have considered forgetting about it…

But today, about 30mins ago, there was this other car… parked in a spot that he was not supposed to, but I did not bother as I needed to take something from my bike…

Not too long later, the driver came… was a Ah Beng in his mid 40s or 50s.
SBT43**
Nicely, I told him "Sorry Mr, this is not a parking lot".
Guess what he said?
"So? Why cannot issit??"

Fine… Maybe I shall help the authorities with alittle of their work.

For all bikers, here’s a part of the letter that the authorities email me that may be useful to you.

———
Should you wish to feedback any illegal parking in future, please feel
free to call our Car Park Enforcement hotline at 1800-2721409 (24hrs)
so that the Enforcement Officer could issue a NOPO on the spot.
————

Here’s a hint, if you wanna do something about it, take a picture of the offense yourself then sent the pict to HDB. But then they will require you to complete a form which will provide your details and also agree that you will agree to testify if the offender were to dispute.

But if you have the pict with you, then there is no basis for them to dispute is there??