Traffic police criticized by a netizen, but other netizens side with the officers

Singapore — A member of the public felt somewhat stunned after observing a traffic police officer fail to take any action when an electric bicycle rider took a right turn even despite the red light.

They shared about the incident on a Facebook group named “Complaint Singapore” and expressed that they felt somewhat conflicted after witnessing it.

According to the netizen, the incident had taken place at Woodlands. All vehicles in sight had come to a stop at the traffic junction due to the red light. The netizen’s vehicle had been behind two traffic police officers on motorcycles.

While all the cars were waiting for the green light to come on, a commuter on an e-bike moved ahead in spite of the red light. They appeared to have mounted a GrabFood delivery bag on the back of their e-bike.

One of the traffic police officers appeared to have caught sight of the electric bicycle rider, but did not attempt to take action of any sort.

As such, the netizen wrote about the incident since they felt unsure if the traffic police officer should have gone after the electric bicycle rider.

A netizen mentioned that it would simply not have been rational if any of the traffic police officers did pursue the electric bicycle rider.

Another netizen mentioned that chasing down the electric bicycle rider, would have caused a lot of trouble for others on the road and delay their commute.

One netizen also said that the traffic police officer might have been keeping a lookout for the electric bicycle rider’s safety, but saw little point in apprehending him.

Yet another netizen said that there was nothing much that the traffic police officer could do. Since e-bikes do not come with licence plates like most vehicles on the road, it can be difficult to take action against them.

You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG