Driverless Vehicles Reader Response Draft 3

On the webpage, “Driverless Vehicles: A Vision for Singapore’s Transport”, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) (2018) proposes an exciting new technology that will take over the transportation system in the near future of Singapore on their website. The Committee on Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore (CARTS) brought up Autonomous Vehicle (AV)-enabled land transportation for Singapore. This technology will provide an increase in efficiency of the mode of transport, better accessibility, and reduction of carbon footprint. AV will greatly benefit Singapore’s eco-environment as it is “environmentally friendly, time-saving and stress-free”. In addition, there will be an increase in passengers in the car-sharing system which, will subsequently reduce the number of passenger vehicles to 1/3 according to a 2011 MIT study in Singapore. MOT also claims that it will be more convenient for commuters to send their children to school before heading off to their workplace in the years to come. 

  

Using driverless vehicles will produce a positive impact on Singapore's future which often has train delays or traffic jams and road accidents. However, MOT fails to emphasise that these vehicles can retrieve data of road conditions to provide safety for the commuters in the future. 

  

Simply, driverless vehicles will provide a smooth journey for the safety of the commuters. On the webpage, MOT only states that commuters will "get around effortlessly" when they ride these vehicles. In my opinion, road dangers and traffic congestions are frequently caused by human drivers as they always create "stop-and-go traffic". In Singapore, drivers tend to accelerate unnecessarily and slow down when an accident happens which will create a ripple effect on the traffic.  On the webpage "10 Annoying Habits Unique Only to Singaporean Drivers", Lim states that Singaporean drivers are seen "slowing down to take a peek" when an accident happens. Thus, driverless vehicles can prevent these dangerous ripple traffic effect as these vehicles can retrieve data and communicate to "spread demand for scarce road space" and will not slow down and stop unnecessarily. 

  

This also brings to a point that driverless vehicles may reduce accidents on the road for the safety of the commuters. On the webpage, MOT only states that in the future, commuters will mostly like travel on “roads that are safe”. To further emphasise, these vehicles are programmed with “forward collision warning systems” which will slow down and brake when a possible collision is detected. In Singapore, there is an increase in road accidents due to the driver’s carelessness. In a news published by Channel NewsAsia, Singapore Police Force (SPF) reported that there is “an increase of 12 percent for traffic fatalities and 9 percent for fatal accidents”. In the webpage "Probability of Getting in a Car Accident in Singapore", the roads in Singapore might not be safe like many Singaporeans assumed. This can be seen from the webpage that strongly claims that "drivers in Singapore may actually be more dangerous than drivers in other high-wealth countries". In my opinion, driverless vehicles will create better road conditions, especially that drivers in Singapore tend to disobey traffic rules and regulations. In the article "The 5 Most Common Causes of Road Accidents in Singapore", the main causes of major accidents that have caused numerous lives are driving without proper lookout and driving under influence of alcohol. "Distracted Driving" has resulted in "2,729 accidents and 41 fatalities" and "Drink Driving" has resulted in "1,058 accidents and 36 fatalities". Therefore, it is possible for Singapore to experience peaceful, accident-free roads in the future when Singapore instilled driverless vehicles for Singapore’s main mode of transportation.

  

To sum up, Singapore generally is a safe and most efficient country to live in, however, traffic congestions and road accidents can be reduced if Singapore relies on reliable technologies which can minimize avertable human errors. 

References

Channel News Asia. (2018). 38 people killed in road accidents this year: Police. Retrieved from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/fatal-traffic-accidents-increase-police-10178386

Goldin, P. (2018). 10 Advantages of Autonomous Vehicles.Retrieved from http://www.itsdigest.com/10-advantages-autonomous-vehicles

Hansen, P. (2018). 3 Amazing Benefits of Driverless Cars That You May Have Never Imagined.Retrieved from https://www.lifehack.org/298279/3-amazing-benefits-driverless-cars-that-you-may-have-never-imagined

John. (2018). The 5 Most Common Causes for Road Accidents in Singapore.Retrieved from https://www.motorist.sg/article/173/the-5-most-common-causes-for-road-accidents-in-singapore

Lim, A. (2018). 10 Annoying Habits unique only to Singapore drivers.Retrieved from https://www.sgcarmart.com/news/events_features.php?AID=3501

Milnes, M. L. (2017). Probability of Getting in a Car Accident in Singapore.Retrieved from https://www.valuechampion.sg/probability-car-accident

Ministry of Transportation. (2018). Driverless Vehicles: A vision for Singapore's transport.Retrieved from https://www.mot.gov.sg/transport-matters/motoring/Detail/driverless-vehicles-a-vision-for-singapore-s-transport/