Kill or Get Killed.

Lately, I notice that my attention span had been getting shorter and shorter by the days. Perhaps, this is a sign that age is catching up with me. There were a few incidents that made me worried that I had actually been inflicted with attention dysfunction.

The first incident happened last night while I was anxiously trying to get into International Business Park in Jurong in respond to a call-booking. When turning right into IBP, I kept looking for traffic coming towards me only, without looking  at my right. As I turned right at accelerating speed, I suddenly saw an Indian man in the middle of the road. I hit my brakes instantly and my taxi was just inches away from hitting him. I'm sure he would have died if I had collided into him because I was turning at high speed. He screamed at me furiously as I drove timidly away. I felt sorry for him and was angry with myself for being so "careless". I could have killed him.

Again, a few nights ago. I stopped at a wide traffic light junction at Kampong Java/Moulmein Road and waited for the lights to change "Green" in my favor. Through my left eye, I saw a Green light flashing and thought that its was for me to move ahead. I hit the accelerator hard without a second thought. As I reached the middle of the intersection, I suddenly realized that the Red lights were still ON. The Green flashing lights I saw earlier was actually for vehicles turning left only. I was stunned when it drawn on me that I had recklessly headed off at a Red light. Luckily, traffic was light and no vehicle crossed the intersection at that critical moment. A fatal collision could have resulted with serious consequences. God had spared both my male passenger's and my life. I've never been so careless in my entire 40 years of driving and last night incident was a lesson that I'll never forget for a long time.

On hindsight, it was probably my chit chat with my passenger about the recent Malaysia/Singapore soccer match that made me lost my focus and attention. In any case, it should not be an excuse. I could have got myself killed together with my passenger.

I spent about 10 hours a night plying the roads in Singapore and it's quite tiring toward the end of the night. Inevitably, given the traffic volume in this sprawling city, where road courtesy is rare and taxi driving is a cut throat business, it's common for traffic accidents to happen. And I do make mistakes. I know that a car is a weapon on the road. It could kill someone or get myself killed. Each night as I start off on my job, I remind myself that it doesn't matter how much I earn, I must get home safely in one piece and get nobody killed.

For entertainment, you can watch some funny car incidents at this link:
http://youtu.be/OrI3GjiS2Sk