‘Our road infrastructure isn’t a playground,’ LTA warns against TikTok trend of people dangling from traffic lights, road signs

SINGAPORE: There’s been a recent trend on TikTok where people film themselves hanging from street signs, traffic lights, and crosswalk poles while lip-syncing to a song that’s 17 years old. (Hey, we never said the trend made sense.)

However, doing the Maui Wowie, which was started by TikTok users from the United States, has since spread to other parts of the world, including Singapore, prompting a warning from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) earlier this week telling people not to do it.

@ltasg

Hello everyone! 🫨 We’re aware of a social media trend where netizens film themselves hanging onto traffic lights, street signs and other road infrastructure. ☝️👀 Fun’s fun, but our road infrastructure isn’t a playground. It helps facilitate travel and keeps everyone safe. Please don’t use them as props for social media. 😭 Let’s keep our roads safe (and your content risk-free) 😅 📸 Note: Individuals shown are AI-generated and for illustration only.

♬ original sound – Land Transport Authority – Land Transport Authority

“Hello everyone! We’re aware of a social media trend where netizens film themselves hanging onto traffic lights, street signs, and other road infrastructure.

“Fun’s fun, but our road infrastructure isn’t a playground. It helps facilitate travel and keeps everyone safe. Please don’t use them as props for social media,” LTA wrote on posts on its social media account, urging people to keep Singapore roads safe and their content risk-free. It added a video of people doing the Maui Wowie, but said these were AI-generated and for illustration only.

Kids, don’t do this at home (well, on the street)

We hate to be a killjoy (do we, though?), but if someone gets caught doing the Maui Wowie in Singapore, especially now that the LTA has warned against it, there could be legal consequences.

After all, the trend does come with risks, so much so that according to a report in The Tab, TikTok even had to place a warning on Maui Wowie videos to remind people of the dangers of hanging off street infrastructure, because “participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt.”

Of course, you’d think it would be obvious to everyone that dangling from street signs or crosswalk poles might be dangerous, right? But people, sadly, have done things that are far less safe.

But anyway, getting back to Singapore, under Section 290 of the Penal Code, public nuisance is defined as an “act that causes common injury, danger, or annoyance to the public or to people in the vicinity,” and fines for such acts could go up to S$2000 for cases that aren’t very serious.

Moreover, people who are aware, or should have been aware, that their actions could cause danger, annoyance, or injury, face jail time or a fine and jail time.

So, dangling from public infrastructure while mouthing the words to a song from Kid Cudi from 2008 sounds like a lot of pain for a few seconds of fun, if you ask us. /TISG

Read also: TikTok of strangers helping drunk woman on MRT goes viral