Readers Response (Draft 1)

In the article, “Floor lights helps ‘smartphone zombies’ keep eye on the road,” Tan (2017) addressed that Singaporeans tend to look down on their phones while crossing the road, this post a danger to themselves and the road. Hence, Land Transport Authority (LTA) launched an initiative to counter the issue by installing ground LED lights at pedestrian crossings. LTA said that it picked two high pedestrian volume locations for six months to test for its effectiveness before officially installing in other places. LTA also further stated that it weighs a hefty price tag of $10,000 to $13,000 of each pair of strips at the crossing stands.

LTA’s initiative to install the ground light will cause the mobile phone users to be over-reliance of this situation. According to an article, Jose de Jong said “We don't want people to use phones when they're dealing with traffic, even when walking around. People must always look around them, to check if cars are actually stopping at the red signals.”  

If the initiative mass installs across the country, mobile phone users will soon be dependent on the ground light and will not check on traffic before crossing the road. Dutch road safety group VVN said “It encouraged bad behaviour”. For instance, if the vehicle is not able to stop on time and users overlooked the situation and cross, the accident maybe detrimental.

Alternatively, LTA should work against educating people about the negative consequences of using mobile phones whilst crossing the roads rather than implementing on pricey LED lights along the pedestrian crossings.  In an article, “Educate ‘smartphone zombies’, not accommodate them” Pakri (2017) stated that “there is no need for LTA to accommodate these “smartphone zombies”. It should be instead discouraged such behaviour on the road”.  The author also said “at least deploy officers at pedestrian crossings to caution and educate them”. This idea will work well as the ‘smartphone zombies’ will be stopped and be warn about the danger of it.

Based on the article, “Road safety campaign takes a VR twist” Chua (2017) stated that road users will get up close with dangerous traffic situations without any risks through the help of Virtual Reality (VR) system. This approach aims the younger generations about the danger of traffic and pedestrian skills. The system requires the users to turn their heads to the left and right like the actual pedestrian crossing setting to look out for vehicles before crossing. This campaign will instil muscles memory to people to watch out for traffic before making the cross.

Not only should this campaign target the younger generation, it should also reach out to everyone around the world. Aside from Singapore, other countries are facing the similar issues and they are implementing the LED strips as well. Why not set up campaign to educate all these people from the danger of crossing road with eyes glued to their mobile phones.

In conclusion, LTA should reassess the need to implement on LED strips on the pedestrian crossings as it is a short-term solution and it will cause people to be over reliance on the lights. Furthermore, the LED strips will also bring negative effects of complacency and harmful learning to the younger generations. Instead of investing on LED strips, the LTA should educate and send messages to people about the consequences of crossing the road blindly. In addition, campaigns can be set up at various crossings with high traffic volume so people like learn more about it.

26 September 2017

Reference:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/traffic-lights-pavement-smartphone-users-look-down-dutch-pedestrians-netherlands-a7584081.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/02/17/pavement-lights-installed-near-dutch-schools-guide-smartphone/

http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/educate-smartphone-zombies-not-accommodate-them

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/road-safety-campaign-takes-vr-twist

Summary on Pedestrian Ground Light (Draft 2)

In the article, “Floor lights helps ‘smartphone zombies’ keep eye on the road,” Tan (2017) addressed that Singaporeans tend to look down on their phones while crossing the road, Land Transport Authority (LTA) launched an initiative to counter the issue by installing ground LED lights at pedestrian crossings.

The costly LED lights were installed along places at high pedestrian volume with diverse age group. The ground lights follow the timings of the current traffic light, it also helps to gauge whether the lights are suitable for Singapore’s climate. Other countries also practice similar concept through fines and signage against phone addicts.

While installing LED lights is a good initiative by LTA, this approach will have negative consequences by increasing pedestrian’s reliance on the lights.

21 September 2017

Summary on Pedestrian Ground LED Light (Draft 1)

In the article, “Floor lights helps ‘smartphone zombies’ keep eye on the road”, Christopher Tan (2017) addressed that Singaporeans tend to look down on their phones while crossing the road, which post a danger to themselves and the traffic. With the increase in accidents, LTA launched an initiative to counter the issue by installing ground LED lights at pedestrian crossings.

The costly LED lights were installed along places at high pedestrian volume with diverse age group. The ground lights follow the timings of the current traffic light, it also helps to gauge whether the lights are suitable for Singapore’s climate. Other countries also practice similar concept through fines and signage against phone addicts.

While it is a good initiative by LTA, I feel that it is a personal responsibility to watch out for traffic and this initiative will backfire by increasing pedestrian’s reliance on the lights.

Poh Shi Lei

19 September 2017

Formal Self-Introduction email

Dear Professor Blackstone

My name is Poh Shi Lei and I am writing to formally introduce myself as a student in your Effective Communication class. After graduating from Temasek Polytechnic with diploma in green building and sustainability, I made the decision to further my studies in sustainable infrastructure engineering (building services) offered by Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). The Singapore government’s initiative to transform the little island into a clean and green city has made me strongly believe that the programme I am pursuing is greatly beneficial to the sustainable building industries.

Aside from the hectic life in SIT, travelling keeps me motivated and ambitious. Travelling has made me appreciate different cultures and traditions. More importantly, I am able explore different places and meet new people around the world. Hence, communication allows me to stay connected with the world and build my professional and social networks. 

Throughout my education, I had the privileged to participate in an educational trip to Korea where I met several local technicians and engineers. After interacting with the engineering and building consultants in Korea, the consultants were impressed with my oral communication skills. This made me discover that I am able to effectively interact with others in a small group conversation. This incident allowed me to realise the importance of interpersonal communication.

Report writing and presentations are my weaknesses as it requires me more time to develop the format and sentence structure in order to generate a written report. Additionally, I am a shy person, I feel nervous in a public setting which in turn makes me underperform.

Through this class, my goal is to refine on my two weaknesses mentioned. I believe that holistic and effective communication are the key factors to successful networking as these would reflect positively on me, which will create vast opportunities ahead.

Yours sincerely

Poh Shi Lei

Edited on 8 September 2017
Edited on 11 September 2017
Edited on 12 September 2017
Edited on 26 September 2017
Edited on 24 November 2017

Read and commented:
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Reginald Goh
Ronvin Tan
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Brad Blackstone