Draft 2 - Reader Response, Floor Lights

In the article “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road”, Christopher Tan (2017) reports that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is implementing a new road-crossing feature at two locations which involves fixing LED strips onto pavements by those pedestrian crossings. The strips will imitate signals of pedestrian crossings and can be seen throughout the entire day. According to an interview by the author, Gopinath Meno (2017), senior research fellow of Nanyang technological University states that the installation of the floor lights will enhance safety of those who are constantly looking at their smartphones as they are unaware of the road condition. Although this initiative can enhance safety of pedestrians, I am not convinced that its implementation will be sufficient in tackling the ‘smartphone zombies’ problem. 

Other than just installing the LED strips at the locations, more can be done. Firstly, LTA should raise more awareness about the strips by having advertisements that showcases the strips. Secondly, efforts in educating road safety should be increased by having more roadshows. 

To allow the strips to achieve its uses completely, more awareness about the LED strips can be raised to allow the public to understand its purpose and how it works. When being interviewed, many pedestrians are not aware that the strips are being implemented (Chua, 2017). Although there are pedestrians who managed to spot it in action, not all of them understand how it works. One of them thought that the strips are festive decorations (Chua, 2017) and have no idea of its intended use. As such, more awareness about the strips can be raised and can be in a form of advertisement. An advertisement highlighting its purpose should be shown on our televisions, this will be useful in reaching out to our senior citizens who watches television frequently. For appealing to our ‘smartphone zombies’, the advertisement can be uploaded onto the social media for them to know that the strips are in place to assist them and should pay attention to them while crossing the road. Most importantly, it should also remind them about their responsibility in upholding road safety.

On top of raising public awareness about operation of the LED strips, efforts in educating road safety should be increased as well. I feel that this can be in a form of having more roadshows to educate the public. Currently, there is one of such roadshows being held annually which is the Singapore Road Safety Month (SRSM). It is a three-day event jointly organised by the Traffic Police (TP) and Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) which promotes road safety to road users since year 2013. I feel that the organisers can increase their effort by having SRSM at more places to reach out to more people. They should delicate a full month to this campaign by having the roadshow on rotation to different heartland areas so that people from all over the country can benefit from it. Also, the SRSM can have more advisories focusing on “smartphone zombies’ and have posters promoting the LED strips too. 

With the increased educating efforts, raised awareness about the LED strips and its implementation, I believe we are now sufficient to tackle the “smartphone zombies” within our country.

Reference

Chua, X. (2017, May 09). New flashing LED strips for pedestrians at 2 traffic-light crossings. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/new-flashing-led-strips-pedestrians-2-traffic-light-crossings

News Release - Singapore Road Safety Month 2017. (2017, May 26). Retrieved September 28, 2017, from https://www.police.gov.sg/news-and-publications/media-releases/20170526_others_singapore_road_safety_month_2017

Tan, C. (2017, May 09). Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/floor-lights-help-smartphone-zombies-keep-eye-on-the-road

Draft 1 - Reader Response, Floor Lights

In the article “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road”, Christopher Tan (2017) reports that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is implementing a new road-crossing feature at two locations which involves fixing LED strips onto pavements by those pedestrian crossings. The strips will imitate signals of pedestrian crossings and can be seen throughout the entire day. According to an interview by the author, Gopinath Meno (2017), senior research fellow of Nanyang technological University states that the installation of the floor lights will enhance safety of those who are constantly looking at their smartphones as they are unaware of the road condition. Although this initiative can enhance safety of pedestrians, I am not convinced that its implementation will be sufficient in tackling the ‘smartphone zombies’ problem.

Other than just installing the LED strips at the locations, more can be done. LTA should raise more awareness to let the public know more about the strips’ purpose. Also, efforts in educating road safety should be increased.

To allow the strips to achieve its uses completely, more awareness about the LED strips can be raised to allow the public to understand its purpose and how it works. When being interviewed, many pedestrians are not aware that the strips are being implemented (Chua, 2017). Although there are pedestrians who managed to spot it in action, not all of them understand how it works. One of them thought that the strips are festive decorations (Chua, 2017) and have no idea of its intended use. As such, more awareness about the strips can be raised and can be in a form of advertisement. An advertisement highlighting its purpose should be shown on our televisions, this will be useful in reaching out to our senior citizens who watches television frequently. For appealing to our ‘smartphone zombies’, the advertisement can be uploaded onto the social media for them to know that the strips are in place to assist them and should pay attention to them while crossing the road. Most importantly, it should also remind them about their responsibility in upholding road safety.

On top of raising public awareness about operation of the LED strips, efforts in educating road safety should be increased as well. I feel that this can be in a form of having more roadshows to educate the public. Currently, there is one of such roadshows being held annually which is the Singapore Road Safety Month (SRSM). It is a three-day event jointly organised by the Traffic Police (TP) and Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) which promotes road safety to road users since year 2013. I feel that the organisers can increase their effort by having SRSM at more places to reach out to more people. They should delicate a full month to this campaign by having the roadshow on rotation to different heartland areas so that people from all over the country can benefit from it. Also, the SRSM can have more advisories focusing on “smartphone zombies’ and have posters promoting the LED strips too.

With the increased educating efforts, raised awareness about the LED strips and its implementation, I believe we are now sufficient to tackle the “smartphone zombies” within our country.

Reference

Chua, X. (2017, May 09). New flashing LED strips for pedestrians at 2 traffic-light crossings. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/new-flashing-led-strips-pedestrians-2-traffic-light-crossings

News Release - Singapore Road Safety Month 2017. (2017, May 26). Retrieved September 28, 2017, from https://www.police.gov.sg/news-and-publications/media-releases/20170526_others_singapore_road_safety_month_2017

Tan, C. (2017, May 09). Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road. Retrieved September 27, 2017, from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/floor-lights-help-smartphone-zombies-keep-eye-on-the-road

Summary & Thesis Statement - Reader Response, Floor Lights

In the article “Floor lights help 'smartphone zombies' keep eye on the road”, Christopher Tan (2017) reports that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is implementing a new road-crossing feature at two locations which involves fixing LED strips onto pavements by those pedestrian crossings. The strips will imitate signals of pedestrian crossings and can be seen throughout the entire day. According to an interview by the author, Gopinath Meno (2017), senior research fellow of Nanyang technological University states that the installation of the floor lights will enhance safety of those who are constantly looking at their smartphones as they are unaware of the road condition. Although this initiative holds potential, I am not convinced that its implementation will be sufficient in addressing the problem in the long term. 

My Communication Strength, Weakness and Goals for SIE2016

Subject: My Communication Strength, Weakness and Goals for the Module

Dear Ms. Lim

I am Benjamin Kuah, one of your student in Effective Communication class. Before entering SIT’s Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering Course, I graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic with Diploma in Hotel and Leisure Facilities Management. Upon graduation, I aspire to be an Engineer in the Building Services industry. After accumulating years of experience, I intend to become a lecturer.

I was exposed to giving presentations back in Polytechnic days. From presenting my findings to coaching my juniors as part of my volunteer work, I was glad to have these opportunities as they developed my presentation skills. I feel that I can engage my audiences and while doing that, I managed to capture their attention and learnt about their opinions. To spice up the session, I injected some element of fun into it too.

Although I can express myself usually, there are times where I find myself unable to do it in a concise manner. This happened in one of the debriefs which I have conducted for my juniors some time back. In my head, I have a learning point which I felt was essential to bring out and I went ahead. After that, I realized I was long-winded and did not fully brought out my point. Through their facial expression, I knew some of my juniors did not fully grasp my point.

With that said, I aim to refine my verbal communication skills further by learning to bring across my idea in a more concise way. I believe that it will not only allow me to express myself more directly, it will allow me to achieve my communication objectives too. Also, I will like to take this opportunity to refresh on my academic writing techniques which is required of me in the module and beyond.

Yours Sincerely,

Kuah Shao Lun, Benjamin

Student, SIE2016-SEM03