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About Me soulcheeky. Based in sunny island. Star sign-Cancerian. Contact me: Soul-cheeky What do I write? Random events, thoughts & remarks based on fragments of the writer's life experiences & ccurrences. Not meant to be offensive or imposing but just a way of life. Feel free to drop me a note if you're impressed or distressed (by my posts). Archives
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Tuesday, November 08, 2005 I was taking the train to work this morning as usual & something caught my eye. I guess the signage has been there for quite sometime but it just didn't occur to me, till today.The signage was placed at the side of the tracks read something like this "Do Not Jump Into Tracks" Fine $5,000. I wonder if I should be amused or otherwise. Singapore is known to be a "fine" city (literally). Fine for smoking, fine for littering, fine for spitting, fine for speeding, etc. Now, fine for jumping into the tracks? That takes the cake. Perhaps the warning was put in place to deter pranksters from disrupting the train services by jumping into the tracks intentionally. We know that there had been several cases of people who died after being rammed by the trains while they were on the track. Some (the papers) claimed were suicide cases & some jumped into the tracks to retrieve their stuff that had accidentally fallen onto the tracks. Now, I wonder if the victim (whether dead or hospitalized) will be made to pay the fine too? There are so many signs around informing the public on the fines on these & that. But I wonder who is actually the one who will collect the fine & to where (presumably the government) & for what purpose? And then when we read the papers, there would be people who are caught either doing illegal stuff or just simply getting into accidents. The verdict will usually include jail term and or fine. So where does the fine goes to? Is it for better bonuses of the civil servants (since civil servants pay & bonuses are from taxpayer's money in a way), build better prisons, better roads or to a certain "unknown" fund? Hmm... I have a friend who got into a minor hit-and-run accident last year. And since it's minor, the Police took quite awhile to have the case sorted & it wasn't an efficient one. More than a year later, my friend received a letter from the police to inform him that the driver has been charged & had his licence suspended for a few months & fined $2,000. Now, this is where we don't see the logic. Here, the victim (my friend) was injured & had to pay for his own medical fees at the hospital, not only didn't he get a cent, the Police "earned" the $2,000 out of nowhere. That's pretty unfair. And I remembered in the Straits Time Forum not too long ago, someone wrote in with a similar predicament but I don't think there was a reply from the relevant authority. Back to the "fine" signages, if I see someone littering in public, can I go over there & "nab" him & ask him to pay me $500 or is the fine only imposed by the right person from the right agency? Just a curious & funny thought of the day. |
