I was in a state of shock when I read the article displaying the number of accidents that occurred due to the recklessness of the citizens. The accident articles read, ‘pedestrian crossing accident’ , ‘a guy gets hit by a bicycle on pavement’, ‘Robber made easier ‘. However, what astounded me more were the reasons behind the occurrence of these accidents. Two of the most major reasons were listening to their music players and utilizing their cell phones or text messaging. The two very common actions carried out by our Singapore Citizens these days. This includes youngsters, adults and even senior citizens. I could walk down the street and point out at least 50 percent of the citizens walking along would be doing either of these actions. However, I strongly feel that these actions should be reduced by Singapore citizens. It will make opportunities for accidents to occur. These accidents of which are preventable.
Firstly, when one is too engrossed in music or text messaging, he or she is ignorant or is unable to be wary of his or her surroundings. For example, if one was to have his earphones plugged, he would not be able to hear anything from his surrounding. Yes, it can be argued that if the volume is rather low, he is able to hear, however, statistics have showed that out of 30 people observed, 24 people had their volumes at 50 percent or louder. The louder the volume, the more the mood sets in. This reduces the chances of one to be able to hear its surrounding. And this can cause accidents. For example, a bicycle that is going reasonably fast and the biker rings his bell a few meters away for caution purposes, the one with the earphones is not able to hear anything and this would reduce the biker to halt and slow down in time and thus crash into the one with earphones or injure himself while trying to swerve his bicycle. This could have been prevented if the guy did not have his earphones on.
Secondly, when one is engrossed in text messaging or in using his phone, his attention will be distracted. This applies heavily when he is driving, crossing the road or doing heavy work. An experiment by The RAC Foundation, a British non-profit organization, using a driving simulator has shown that when a driver is driving and text messaging at the same time, his reaction time is reduced by 35 percent and this can and is likely to cause road accidents. This also applies to road users and people walking in crowds. An experiment was done by the reporters and it showed that of the 30 pedestrians were text messaging, five bumped into the reporters and six dodged them only at the very last minute. This shows that their attention and focus is solely on their phones and not to their surroundings. This can cause accidents such as bumping into visually-handicapped citizens or senior citizens that are frail and fragile. These accidents can be prevented if the phone user does not use his phone when he is walking in crowds or walking for that matter. However, some users of the music players and cell phones, mostly comprising of youngsters, argue that music and text messages are crucial and essential in their daily lifestyle. Without the company of their music players or cell phones, their life would be mundane and music just sets the mood as said by polytechnic student Farhana Zulkifli aged 21. Other users sets the blame on others. For example, another polytechnic student by the name of Seah Jia Hao, 17, says that if there is a car behind him and he cannot hear it, it is the driver’s responsibility to look out for him as he is in front of the car. Others say that it has become a habit that is inevitable. I do agree that if we don’t listen to music or text message while walking down the street or crossing the road, the situation can be considered pretty boring. And if we don’t listen to music during long MRT journey rides or such events, then when at all? Every other activity requires alertness because anything can happen unexpectedly. However, I believe that reducing these actions can reduce the chances of accidents occurring.