Cyclist face plants into back of car at Newton Circus roundabout

Face plant.

Belmont Lay | October 29, 2019, 09:58 AM

Roundabouts are one of the greatest weaknesses of motorists in Singapore.

They don't know when and how to enter, and when and how to exit without causing near-collisions or a lot of honking.

In February 2019, it was even a parliamentary issue after Melvin Yong, Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC), brought it up as a safety problem in the area.

The Newton Circus roundabout now has signalised traffic lights to manage traffic.

But it appears the counter-intuitive nature of building traffic lights have claimed one cyclist's face.

The cyclist was not aware that the right turn red light was on.

And he promptly rode straight into the back of a stationary car.

You can watch the short video here, which was shared to the Go-Jek Singapore Community Facebook group:

British legacy

Roundabouts are a piece of colonial legacy inherited from the British.

Roundabouts litter Britain.

They are meant to self-regulate traffic.

There are a few remaining roundabouts in Singapore.

One of them is located smack in the middle of Suntec City.

The other memorable one being the Marine Parade roundabout.

But there was also talk in March 2019 to make Marine Parade roundabout safer, which could mean signalised traffic lights could be built to manage traffic -- taking the "self" out of "self-regulate".