SINGAPORE: Despite perennial grouses about the stratospheric costs of motoring, car drivers in Singapore can toot their horns now that British vehicle financing group Moneybarn has ranked the republic and Japan as the best countries to be drivers in.
In a study of 35 countries released earlier this month, Singapore ties with Japan as having the highest driver satisfaction score of 7.1 (out of 10), putting them well ahead of other high-scorers such as Switzerland (6.13), Denmark (6.06) and Britain (5.74).
Among the worst countries to be driving in are Israel (4.12), New Zealand (3.58) and Italy (3.12). At the very bottom is Greece, with a satisfaction score of 2.73.
Moneybarn content specialist Amelia Scholey said: “Singapore prides itself on its city planning, so it’s no wonder it takes the top spot for road quality at 90.9 out of 100. It’s also an exceptionally safe country to drive in, sharing the top spot for road deaths at only two per 100,000 people.
“On top of this, the country’s off-street parking is some of the cheapest on the list.”
The study was compiled using published data collated by organisations such as the World Economic Forum, global navigation specialist TomTom, worldwide speed camera database SCDB and the World Health Organisation.
Singapore’s road infrastructure quality score of 90.9 is well ahead of runner-up Japan (84.8) and lowest-scoring Romania (32.6).
In terms of congestion level – shown as additional time that a journey takes during peak hours when compared with non-peak conditions – the Republic’s score of 29 per cent is lower than the capital city of countries like Japan (43 per cent in Tokyo) and Romania (50 per cent in Bucharest).
But it is higher than Canada (18 per cent in Ottawa), Spain (18 per cent in Madrid) and Britain (20 per cent in London).
Singapore Road Safety Council chairman Bernard Tay said: “I am pleased to note that Singapore has been ranked No. 1 as the best country for drivers. Our priority to (ensure) road safety contributes to this.
“Regular inspection of vehicles and well-maintained roads are equally important, as are enforcement efforts to deter and detect traffic violations.”
On this front, the Republic has the lowest number of road deaths per 100,000 population.
Automobile Association of Singapore chief executive Lee Wai Mun said: “Yes, we have done well, but I suspect that if we included car ownership costs, Singapore’s score may change.”
He noted that it is “much harder to ensure good infrastructure in a big country than in a small one”.
He added that congestion, as measured in the study, could be misleading because “if a city is congested throughout the day, the percentage of additional time during peak hours may appear small”.
“Personally, I’m surprised that London has a better congestion score than Singapore,” he said.
Veteran motoring writer Dr Andre Lam said: “We certainly do not have the best roads in the world but the ones we have are well-maintained, and utilised optimally.
“Rather than enlarge roads and design them for maximum capacity, we have done it differently, accepting the current road limitations and curtailing the vehicle population by taxation and quota restrictions, which allow our road users a reasonably good daily drive without much congestion.”
Dr Lam, also a dentist, added that while “congestion is found on most roads most of the time, we do not have gridlock”.
“The relative low average speeds here might help explain the low fatality rate,” he added.
