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http://www.edvantage.com.sg/edvantage/news/news/1121864/Parents_clash_outside_Raffles_Girls_Primary_School.html
One driver calls another arrogant for refusing to move his car, which was parked in a yellow box thus blocking her car from getting out.
He, in turn, calls her rude for shouting at him and says he would rather pay a traffic fine than submit to her demands.
This confrontation last Thursday is not a daily occurrence outside Raffles Girls' Primary School (RGPS) at Hillcrest Road, off Dunearn Road, in Bukit Timah.
But the daily traffic congestion, which is especially bad during lunchtime, when parents drop off or pick up their children, not only causes frayed nerves but sometimes brings out the worst in some drivers.
And it's a challenge to improve the situation, said the school.
In last Thursday's incident, Ms Julyn Kang, 37, a part-time lecturer, had just dropped off her seven-year-old daughter at about 12.45pm in front of a cordoned stretch of road that runs between the school and Hillcrest Road.
When she tried to reverse her car out to Hillcrest Road, she saw a BMW parked in the yellow box facing a locked school gate that is used for fire engine access.
She told The New Paper that as the car was blocking her way, she honked at the driver, who then alighted and walked towards her.
She said: "I wound down my window and gestured that I wanted to go out."
She said the man told her: "You reverse and go out behind me."
Although there was some space behind his car, Ms Kang said it would have been hard for her to manoeuvre her blue Toyota Wish out.She said it would also have been dangerous to do so.
Ms Kang added: "I told him, 'You are in the yellow box,you know.'He replied, 'So?'"
Motorists are not allowed to stop inside a yellow box and obstruct other vehicles, except if they are turning, as the yellow box is meant to improve traffic flow at road junctions, says the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) One Motoring website.
Ms Kang said she then told the man: "I'm going to report to the principal."
"He replied, 'Never mind, I got money. You don't threaten me.'"
Ms Kang said she was speechless for a while.
Then she got out of her car and took a picture of his car parked in the yellow box. She later posted the photo on social media website Facebook.
She also complained to the traffic warden who was there, she said.
Ms Kang told TNP the driver was being arrogant: "We have our very own homemade terrible drivers, full of arrogance and a sense of entitlement."
When TNP spoke to the BMW driver, Mr Jerry Gee, 48, outside the school on Monday, he admitted to parking in the yellow box.
The father of 11-year-old twin daughters studying at the school also admitted to saying he had money to settle any fine.
But he said he had assumed that Ms Kang would repor thim to the Traffic Police.
He claimed she was unreasonable, shouting at him and a traffic warden.
He said: "If she had asked me nicely to move away, I would have. But she first gestured rudely to me and then got out of the car and started ranting at me."
Mr Gee,who is self-employed, said it was inappropriate for her to drag his children into their dispute.
"She said, 'How do you bring up your children?' I found that unacceptable. They have nothing to do with this incident," he said.
"For people like that, I have no problem paying a fine to see her fume."
Mr Gee, a Singaporean, added that Ms Kang also scolded the traffic warden before she left, asking her: "How do you do your job?"
The traffic warden, who wanted to be known as Wendy,36, confirmed that Ms Kang had scolded her.
Mr Gee pointed out that the road that Ms Kang was on was cordoned off between 12.45 and 1.20pm that day, so he was not obstructing any traffic.
"The yellow box doesn't serve any purpose at that point in time, so I don't feel that I did anything wrong," he said.
The residents in the area - complain of having to put up with inconsiderate drivers for years.
One Mrs Yip said that despite complaints to LTA, Traffic Police and to the school, the situation has not improved.
"Once in a while, an LTA motorcycle will show up, but once it leaves, the cars just park there again."
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