Reader's Response draft for 'Floor lights'

According to “Floor lights help ‘smartphone zombies’ keep eye on the road”, (Tan, 2017), new LED strips that mimics the flow of the traffic lights are installed at 2 pedestrian crossings on a half-year trial to raise awareness of road safety.

As stated by Traffic Police (2017), the accident rates were at a 4 year high with pedestrian accidents making one-third of all fatal road accidents. Senior researcher, Menon (2017) mentioned that many pedestrians are hooked to their phones, so any method to better the safety of pedestrians are welcomed. Tan then states that the new feature will make crossing easier and safer with the assistance of the LED strips.

While I agree with the writer to a certain extent that the new safety system implemented would aid ‘smartphone zombies’ to cross the road safer and reduce road accidents, I feel that there is another group of pedestrians that require greater focus, which is the elderly.

Statistics have shown that accidents involving elderly are still increasing over the years. According to the figures provided by the Singapore Police Force (2017), both number of accident and number of fatalities involving elderly have increased by 19.6% and 21.7% respectively. In this case, LED lights will be only benefit the elderly only in traffic junction due to visual hindrance which prevents some of them from seeing the traffic signal from far. Even with the help of the senior citizen concession pass, which can be used to extend the duration of road crossing, accidents are still happening whereby the driver fails to notice and give way to the elderly pedestrian.

Next, the key problems of accidents involving elderly are jaywalking and irresponsible drivers. SPF also indicated that the number of accidents involving elderly who jaywalked increased by 42.1% in recent years. In addition to that, elderly pedestrian fatalities are usually caused by drivers who are not aware of their surrounding and failed to give way to these pedestrians. Despite certain effort made by the government to educate the elderly on road safety such as introducing the Road Master Test Kit, which is used to test elderly’s physical abilities that impact on their safety on the roads, and Silver Zones, which warns motorists to slow down and implements road initiatives to aid elderly in crossing road, it has not fully addressed the problem as the numbers are not going down. This means that they are still prone to accident from irresponsible driver who fails to keep a look out. I feel that government should step up their effort in imposing heavy punishments for motorists who fail to follow the regulations in the Silver Zones and also to further publicize Test Kit and make it easily available for senior citizen.

In conclusion, although Singapore government came out with certain safety measures to ensure road safety of the people, it is evident that the accidents involving elderly are not showing signs of improvements. Therefore, they should be more focused on the safety of the elderly by enforcing stringent road regulations and improving existing programmes.

Reference:

Tan, Christopher. “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road.” The Straits Times, 9 May 2017, www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/floor-lights-help-smartphone-zombies-keep-eye-on-the-road. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.

''Annual Road Traffic Situation 2016" Singapore Police Force, 15 February 2017, https://www.police.gov.sg/~/media/spf/files/statistics/20170215_stats_road_traffic_situation_2016.pdf Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.

Land Transport Authority, n.d,

https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/projects/road-and-commuter-facilities/silver-zones.html

Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.

Summary for "Floor Lights"

According to “Floor lights help ‘smartphone zombies’ keep eye on the road”, (Tan, 2017), new LED strips are installed at 2 pedestrian crossings on a half-year trial in order to raise awareness of road safety for 'smartphone zombies'.

According to the Traffic Police (2017), the accident rates were at a 4 year high with pedestrian accidents making one-third of all fatal road accidents. Senior researcher, Menon (2017) mentioned that many pedestrians are hooked to their phones, so any method to better the safety of pedestrians are welcomed. Tan then states that the new feature will make crossing easier and safer with the assistance of the LED strips. I agree with the writer to a certain extent that the new safety system implemented would aid ‘smartphone zombies’ to cross the road safer and reduce road accidents.

However, I feel that the focus should be on elderly due to the increasing number of fatal road accidents involving them in recent years and LED floor light is definitely not beneficial to them.

Reference:

Tan, Christopher. “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road.” The Straits Times, 9 May 2017, www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/floor-lights-help-smartphone-zombies-keep-eye-on-the-road. Accessed 15 Sept. 2017.

From,


Sia Ming Liang
Stamford Bridge Road
Blk 555 #02-321
Singapore 730555


13 September 2017


Ms. Lim Lay Hoon
Lecturer
Singapore Institute of Technology
10 Dover Drive
Singapore 138682


Dear Ms Lim,

Subject: My strengths and weaknesses in Communication

I am writing you this letter to do a short introduction of myself, as well as to discuss some of my strengths and weaknesses in communication.


My name is Sia Ming Liang. I previously graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Clean Energy and I am currently pursuing a Bachelor's in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Building Services).

In this highly interactive society, I believe that it is essential to equip yourself with good communication skills, be it through verbal or written communication. It enables you to express yourself well and to bring your point across to others in a clear and concise manner.

Being a mindful person, I am able to sense the mood or tension in conversations and thus, I am more cautious with my actions and words. I remember of an incident whereby I celebrated as I scored well for my exams in front of a good friend of mine who did badly. It was obvious to me that he was very annoyed by my action. Since then, I have made a point to be more sensitive to others and to know how to react in certain situations.

On the other hand, my greatest weakness is that I do not have enough confidence when speaking. This leads to me not being able to form my sentences well and therefore, not being able to express myself well when communicating with people around me. This happens especially when I am doing presentation and it is something that I am constantly trying to improve.

As for my goals, I aim to become more confident as a speaker, and also to enhance my communications skills. I believe the only way it can be done is through practice and by having more interactions with others.

Yours Sincerely,

Sia Ming Liang (Mr)

Student

SIE2016 Group 6