Pedestrians

Every day, we wake up, get up, and after eating our breakfast and cleaning ourselves up, such that we are presentable to the rest of the human race, we go about our daily duties; whether as breadwinners, housemakers, students, or, as in my case, loafers. Nevertheless, we need to get to wherever we are doing our “jobs” by some means of transport or other. Sure, sometimes our job is as a vacationer or holidaymaker, but we still need to get to wherever we are going by transport.

Nowadays, there is a plethora of methods of transportation for going to wherever one is going. For long distances, there are aeroplanes. For heavy loads with reasonably long distances, there are ships, then there are trains, buses, cars, taxis, vans, and cars.

Not forgetting to mention that there is the oldest form of transport available to man. It’s used more often than we think, and it’s free, healthy, readily available regardless of time of day and is one of the more efficient forms available to man. Yes people, I’m talking about the Bas Sebelas or in less colloquial language, walking.

And as anyone who lives in an urban area would tell you, there are roads one has to cross, so we become pedestrians. The way drivers give way to pedestrians in any one territory is due to a combination of the laws there, the civic consciousness and as Americans would call it, car culture. One can probably tell which part of the world one is in just by seeing how people drive and walk.

In Singapore, pedestrians cross at the zebra crossings briskly. There are a reasonably high number wherever they are needed so that where there is a need for pedestrians to cross a road, they do not have to walk too far to get to a zebra crossing. More surprisingly is the way the drivers in Singapore behave when they approach a zebra crossing. They stop their cars and wait for you to cross, even if you are standing on the road shoulder on the other side of the road.

The first time that happened, I was caught off guard. So I walked as fast as I could across the road. Singapore has a reasonable public transport system, but they also have a lot of cars as well, so it surprised me that their drivers were willing to give way to pedestrians, considering their proximity to Malaysia.

In Hong Kong, pedestrians walk without even looking, especially if they are crossing at a traffic light or a pedestrian crossing. They might just give a casual glance at the road before crossing, and when it is indicated that the traffic is one way, they look in that direction only.

Traffic in Hong Kong is also very much geared to the pedestrian as well. Cars would stop for pedestrians, and when there are many, many pedestrians, the green light for cars is shortened by pedestrians crossing when they feel they’ve waited enough.

Road signage in Hong Kong is also pretty amusing for a Malaysian to look at. Remember all those words in paint which always seem to be disappearing? Well, in Hong Kong, the signage is painted so many times, the paint is at least half an inch thick. At junctions without pedestrian crossings, there are the words “LOOK LEFT” ( and the Chinese equivalent) painted in half-inch thick paint on one side of the road and the words “LOOK RIGHT” (and the Chinese equivalent) on the other side of the road.

While in Hong Kong, I would look at both sides of the road, even when there were lights. After one occasion in during which me and my dad crossed a one way street after looking at both sides of the road (not to mention we continued checking while crossing), I mentioned to my father, ”Only Malaysians would look both ways while crossing a one way road”. My dad’s reply? “I was about to say the same thing.”

Okay, I have come across many Malaysians who would tell me, “It’s okay to cross the road without looking, you have right of way!” My standard reply is that the only right one would be exercising would be the right to get knocked down by a car. Sure, pedestrians have right of way and all that, but in Malaysia, I won’t encourage anyone to behave that way. Maybe in Singapore, definitely in Hong Kong, but we have to practice defensive walking here.

So maybe one may ask why the different styles of traffic management despite the fact that we were all conquered by the same colonizer (the English)? Well, colonizers are one thing, people are another. Singaporeans have to follow every law to the letter (or the stroke, if I may) and they do so exceptionally; they give pedestrians right of way every time they have to. In general, they are also more civic conscious than most Malaysians, so they understand the need to follow the law and to ensure order.

In Hong Kong, few people can afford their own car, with high taxes on everything car related in Hong Kong. The territory can also ill afford traffic jams, with so little space and area to expand. As such, pedestrians make up most of their traffic, and car drivers understand this. As there are so many, they have to give way, even when they have right of way. Hong Kongers might not be the nicest people on earth, but when it comes to civic awareness, they still beat us Malaysians in many areas. We can start with right of way, but then there’s also the way they enter and leave trains, as well as a long list of other differences.

Malaysians… I have no idea why we just refuse to follow the rules. I guess people in general lack civic awareness. Unlike the two territories mentioned above, Malaysia has a substantial rural population, so when they come to the city, they bring along all their bad habits. Add to that the uncontrolled influx of foreign workers with walking habits worst than that of Malaysian drivers, we get a car culture where the car is king, and can jump pedestrian lights if there is no one crossing the road.

Would I want to walk my way in this environment? Well, sometimes I have no choice; public transport doesn’t always stop where we want it to stop. I just have to be extra vigilant when I cross the roads, as cars generally don’t stop, or even slow down, when they see a pedestrian, unless they’re going to hit you.

Walking in Singapore and Hong Kong is definitely a breeze compared to walking here. Everything from better infrastructure to better driver’s habits makes life easier, not to mention safer. Walking here is definitely a pain in the ass.

But it goes to show the kind of people there are in the territories. Singaporeans are law-abiding, goody goody (at least within Singapore), Hong Kongers, while not everyone’s favourite kind of person, are at the very least, civic minded. Malaysians…sigh…. In general, Malaysians are neither civic minded nor law abiding…

We could probably qualify for the Wild Wild West of driving if there ever was one. Would we win? With China trumping us in civiclessness, we might not, but we would definitely get an Honourable Mention.