Disappointment Junction

Was at the Junction of Orchard and Patterson roads two nights ago, about to cross the road from Wheelock place to Lido.

Charging down Orchard road past the Thai embassy, sirens blaring, were two ambulances. Now, we've all seen them before, Ambulances and Fire Engines on the street. Graduting from being facinated at their novelty, they become objects of curiosity and, to a certain extent, urban mystique- for details of their interiors are less know and, as such, intriging.

What I witnessed on Thursday evening, though, left a foul taste in my mouth and a hollow feeling in my chest.

These two ambulances had clearly been activated and were either rushing to a scene or on a return trip to a hospital carrying a precious cargo of a fragil life hanging by delicate threads. As they approached the junction, weaving gingerly through gaps grudgingly provided by other motorists, they slowed to a halt, "sticking their nose out" into the space of the junction in an Emergency Vehicle's appeal for safe passage through the junction.

No one gave way.

I'm serious.

Taxis, toyotas, lorries, bikes. They paid the siren and flashing lights no heed and continued to assert their 'right of way' by driving past. I even saw one car (not a taxi) stop right in front of the ambulance as it queued to get to the other side.

What are these drivers thinking?! I was severely disappointed, in a way I've not been in a long time, by the lack of public-spiritedness displayed by those dozen drivers on Thursday evening. "Oh Ben, you're just getting worked up for no reason", part of my inner mind will tell me. "Hahaha! Welcome to Singapore", mocks another cynical voice in my head.

In the end, it was only because a bus (or was it a lorry) stopped and allowed the ambulances through that they were not delayed further by inconsiderate motorists. The ambulances had to linger at the junction for perhaps as long as a minute. In Ambulance Response Time, to spend a full minute just to clear a junction is an excruciating wait. From my understanding (and a quick google search) most ambulance service standards have 20 minutes as an upper-bracket. From the time the emergency call is made, to the time the ambulance arrives on the scene, 20 minutes.

Ok, enough of a rant on that. It was something that should not have happened, my witnessing that was a genuine coincidence and I shall not let this disappointment taint the optimism I still have for this society, for- despite the little quirks that we love to complain about- there is much good to be recognised in it as well.