Almost human flashing traffic light

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Seen in Singapore. I walked back to a car park past this figure. It attracts the attention of both pedestrians and drivers. My new Singaporean friend (who kindly gave me a lift home from a Toastmasters international meeting at Singapore Institute of Management nearby) told  me that she had seen other variations on this figure.

It is signalling a yellow warning with a series of small lights. Presumably they change to red aand green. I took the photo when the lights were yellow. It looks as though you can set the figure up anywhere when you are doing roadworks.

Instead of a real life policeman or woman standing in the middle of the road with a whistle, or a lollipop lady, you have an almost human mannekin.

There's always something surprising to see in Singapore, and indeed travelling anywhere. Travel -beats boredom, distracts you from depressing thought, produces genuine joy.

Useful Websites

Singaporeair.com

Author

Angela Lansbury

How Does The Eco-bridge Help Animals Cross The BKE in Singapore?

Problem
As you drive along the BKE expressway in Singapore, your bus or car passes under the Ecobridge. What is it and how does it work?

Answers
BKE is an abbreviation for Bukit Timah Expressway. It runs north up to the causeway across the sea linking Singapore to Malaysia. You drive along it to join the PIE, Pan Island Expressway, which runs East West, to and from the airport, Changi Airport, on the East coast.

The Motorways And Bridges
Bukit is Malay for hill, the large hill in the middle of Singapore. The city of Singapore is gradually expanding across the island of Singapore. The Ecobridge was built across the motorway, as a link from one side of the jungle cut by the motorway, to the other side, for the benefit of the animals.

Why? We already have plenty of other bridges over the motorway. How does an Eco-bridge differ from the other bridges, carrying traffic and pedestrians?

The Eco-bridge
The Eco-bridge is exclusively for animals. It is not difficult to see that animals could be frightened away by the noise of traffic and accidentally injured by road traffic.

Pedestrians and Public Access
What about a pedestrian only bridge? Pedestrians could deliberately torment Animals. Others might kidnap animals as pets or to sell.  Well-intentioned families might accidentally injure animals, by trying to lure animals nearer to be photographed, offering unsuitable food.

But there's more to it than that. Just the smell of human crossing the bridge might frighten away some animals. So signs tell the public not to cross.

Plants
A concrete bridge is not attractive to all animals. The Eco-bridge has been planted with appealing plants which providing tempting food, shadows and shelter.

Cameras
Does it work? How do we know? Cameras have been set up to record the animal visitors. A video on YouTube shows you assorted bats and other animals.

Useful Websites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c18vo5Ybdio (Video of the eco-bridge in Singapore.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCJvn__N5c (Animation showing worldwide problems and solutions including cows not crossing painted white lines.)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Notting Hill Carnival Sunday 30 and Bank Holiday Monday 31 August - travel

Note for your diary: Notting Hill Carnival, London, England.
This is when people flock to Notting Hill Carnival from all over London, England, Britain, Europe, the world.

Here's the plaque to the man who helped start it all:

Description	English: Blue plaque erected by Nubian Jak Community Trust at 70 Tavistock Road, London W11 1AN
Date	27 September 2014, 11:34:42
Source	Own work
Author	Spudgun67

Camera location	51° 31′ 08.12″ N, 0° 12′ 25.35″ W	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap

You might think that residents would be delighted to get a free view of the carnival from the windows. Actually, some of them go on holiday because they've seen it all before, several years running, and this year they want to be able to rest or read during the day and be sure of a good night's sleep.

If you don't make it, be sure to watch on TV or YouTube.

See more in Metro Travel News. Wed Aug 19, 2015.
metro@tfl.gov.uk
tfl.gov.uk
tfl.gov.uk/news
tfl.gov.uk/socialmedia
tfl.gov.uk/trafficnews
Tel:0343 222 1234 (24 hr travel info)

London Travelwatch
www.londontravelwatch.org.uk
Tel: 020 3176 2999.

Carnival webpage created by tfl with maps and nearest stations and bus routes:
Twitter:

@TflTrafficNews

@Tfl.BusAlerts

@TflTravelAlerts

Angela Lansbury, travel writer.

My Road Traffic Accident Survival

After a road traffic accident my car went from the slow lane and ended up hitting the central reservation and spinning to a stop. Debris from two vehicles was in the road. Traffic behind us stopped. Somebody ran over to ask if I was OK and help me out. I could not move. I could open the windows but the door on my side was jammed shut. I kept saying, 'Call the police, stop the traffic before another vehicle hits us.'

The driver of a lorry assured me, 'Somebody is phoning the police.'

He ran back to his vehicle. He had parked it diagonally across the motorway blocking all three lanes so nothing could hit the debris or the two stationary vehicles in the outside two lanes or us vulnerable pedestrians.

I've discussed this with other people several times since.

My first shock was the jolt and bang as my car was hit. The second was realising my car was out of control shooting into the fast lane. The third shock was hitting the central barrier. The fourth was rotating to a stop and realising I was stuck in the fast lane where fast moving vehicles would hit my car.

The next was realising that when I got out I would be stuck on the central reservation unable to cross to the hard shoulder. While waiting to be rescued, I had nothing wider than a kerbstone to stand on. Then last shock was realising I could not get out of the car door.

A lorry driver has a responsible job. He does many hours driving for a living. He has seen accidents before. He would either have had the initiative to think what to do. And/or he knew from experience of being jammed in narrow roads that when his vehicle is diagonally across a road nobody else can pass.

The helper suggested I get out of the passenger side so I did not have the steering wheel in the way. Then he realised I could move my seat back away from the wheel. I did that and made a huge space in front of the two front seats. He told me to turn the engine on and off to see if the car doors would operate. Somebody got the front passenger seat open. Then the man on my side got the back door on my side open. Then I pushed and the door my side opened. He helped me stand up. I was shaken and nervous but uninjured with not a scratch.

Then the driver of the other car appeared with blood on her face, asking anxiously was I all right. I thought that was very nice of her, as she was bloody and I wasn't. Of course she being in the car behind had seen my car shoot across the road. I had not seen her car at all.

It was not until we were escorted back to the hard shoulder that I saw the damage to her car a few yards behind mine.

My son, Anthony, said if she had braked I would have heard a squeal of brakes and seen skid marks on the road.

My car was steered to the hard shoulder to clear the road.
I said, "Let's take photos as evidence first."

We took photos.

By now the Road Traffic police has appeared and the traffic could be seen backing up for as far as I could see.