This morning, I go to the place that most motorists hate or fear to go: the Singapore Traffic Police Headquarters at Ubi.
You see this building, leg sure shiver.
You get to go there if you kena serious traffic offences and you want to tolong tolong.
You get to go there also if you get involved in accidents and kena investigated.
So this is the last place people will be happy to go.
But today, I go there as a happy man. Because I was invited, not kena summoned there.
And because I was a good citizen, not because I am a bad citizen.
I go there to meet Traffic Police's Road Safety Branch, to help improve road safety for motorcyclists in Singapore.
How come TP so eng and want to meet Endless me?
Because of complaint king, MrLau.
MrLau is a very good and kind man. He very concerned for the safety of Singapore motorcyclists. So he always write complain email and send to TP, to give them "feedback" and suggestions.
I think the day come that the TP buay tah han MrLau. So want to turn this complaint king to become something useful. Ask him come and work with the TP Road Safety Branch. Not a bad idea right? Kill two birds with one stone. Our TP got brains hor?
So MrLau (Honda CB1300) also invited Spectrum (Honda Hornet900), who then jio me along. With us is also boofeng (Kawasaki Concors) and quizesilver (Honda Super4).
MrLau entering the TP Lair.
We met at the canteen in the TP HQ.
After a while, a young man and a woman came and sit with us. Both of them are not wearing police clothes.
The young man is Dua Liap TP Mah Tak, I tell you. His name is Simon.
His rank is Deputy Superintendent of Police siah. CO of Road Safety Branch ah.
All the crappy road safety TV commercials and all those banners hanging on the lamposts on the road come from this man. His name is Simon. The woman is his assistant, SSG Nora.
Simon sit down with us and first thing he do is offered to buy us all coffee.
We all hear that, but no one dare to accept his offer.
Who ever in his life get offer kopi from TP?
Simon repeat his offer again and tell us don't scared. We cautiously accepted his offer.
But after a while, we realised this Simon is a very nice friendly man.
I find him very normal. Actually, I quite like him.
Although his rank very high, he is not those jenghu people who only like to talk jenghu wuay (language) and got jenghu sey (airs).
Simon not hao lian and is a motorcycle man like us. He currently rides a Honda Wave. So he understands first hand, all our problems of us motorcyclists on the road. Nora also used to ride motorcycle. So we all understand and speak the same language and same frequency.
We tell him some of our problems as motorcyclists on the road that threatens our safety and give suggestions. He understands our problem. We also discussed about organising an event to invite more motorcyclists to the TP HQ to learn about road safety.
Simon want to reach out to the motorcycle and car clubs. I think in the past, the Road Safety CO just sit behind their desks. Simon could be the first to actually come down, meet and talk to us actual motorcyclists. When tua liap jeng hu people come and meet us commoners, is this call doing Grassroot work?
Anyhow, we really enjoyed chatting with Simon and it appears to me that he genuinely cares about safety of motorcycle and car owners.
We told him about our Street Smart thread at Singaporebikeforums.com.
It contains many proven safety tips and techniques that can help motorcyclists survive on the road. It is at:
http://www.singaporebikes.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67876
He says he will go and read and even print out and post on his Branch notice board.
He also showed us some photographs of motorcyclists who met accidents and kiout kiout.
Sibei gross siah. Can see brain matter, can see eyeball come out socket, can see exposed teeth through face. Confirm lose appetite one.
But very effective. After that I ride extra extra safely.
Next, he brought us downstairs to see the TP car park.
Wah seh. I see rows and rows of TP motorcycles!
Most of them are the Yamaha Diversions. I also see a few of the new TP Honda VFR800 (pre-Vtec version).
I eagerly go and hop onto the VFR800. It is very compact compared to the Diversion. Must be much more agile and better at handling.
The handle bar is raised so now the TP rider can ride upright. I like this setup. The seat padding is also very soft. If they sell outside this setup, I sure go and buy!
Then I go and examine the Yamaha Diversions.
Have you ever wondered, like so many of us out there, is our TP Diversion motorcyclists equipped with radar to clock your speed when you are speeding?
Sure don't have right? TP motorcycle not very big what, where to put radar?
Today, I finally see for myself the answer.
The answer is YES. The TP bike has radar. Not only one radar. But two. One forward facing. The other rear.
Next time you see a Diversion, you see carefully. On its right crash bar, there is a small little cylinder thing. The front is a white plastic cover, the body is black. It looks like a small search light. But it is not. It is a radar.
Next, you see the rear mounting, just after the rear seat and above the rear tail light. You will see a similar object but face rearward.
To further confirm, below the TP motorcycle dashboard, there is an xtra big rectangular dashboard for reading and operating the two radars.
According to them, the TP radar can clock your speed when the TP bike is stationary as well as when it is moving.
Hopefully with this knowledge, I can help save you write useless appeal letter to plead that the TP anyhow clock your speed using human eyeball.
Then, it is time to say goodbye to Simon and Nora. We really had a lot of fun and we enjoyed meeting them. We spent almost 3 hours there talking! I never imagined I could talk so much to a TP.
The bike safety event is planned on 14 October Saturday. So stay tunned. I think places are limited. Only 40.
When we are about to leave the TP HQ, it was raining.
Then Simon so nice. Go and get umbrellas for us so that we can walk to go and makan without getting wet. This TP really know how to score points.
This Simon tell us, actually most of the TP officers are very nice people. So we should go up and talk to them. Ya, right.
Never bluff you.
I really was at the Ubi TP HQ.
Somemore TP Superintendent really offered me umbrella (see TP logo all over on umbrella).
MrLau's rare Honda CB1300 Bold'Or (meaning Gold in French).
It is a new bike but with retro styling. I like.
Boofeng's 1,000cc Kawasaki Concors.
My Frost at Ubi Traffic Police Headquarters.
Got invitation then get park inside one, ok.
Today is a very special and fun day for me.
Glad that there are people like Simon at TP.
Got invitation then get park inside one, ok.
Today is a very special and fun day for me.
Glad that there are people like Simon at TP.
No comments:
Post a Comment