7 Singaporean Driving Superstitions and Taboos

Some say that he’d rather buy a new car than have more kids, and that when he drives under an ERP gantry, his testes light up like a Christmas tree. All we know is, he’s called the Singaporean Driver!

But, as well as being champion grumblers, we are also a pretty superstitious lot. Take the 7th Month Ghost Festival, for example. Most of us will do our level best to avoid these roads over the next 30 days. But there’s more superstitions which apply to our motoring lifestyle and habits in general. Here are seven of them.

Of course, this falls exactly in line with the general superstition to not start anything new during the 7th lunar month. According to the Chinese, the gates of Hell open for 30 days during this period, and all manner of spirits, demons and ghosts of the netherworld are allowed to spring forth to wreak havoc in our world.

This explains why, according to Chinese tradition, more deaths occur during this month, as the risk of physical dangers are increased due to the otherworldly mischief. Coincidentally, new ventures, such as starting new businesses, or the buying of and moving into new homes – and buying of new cars - tail off, as the Chinese believe it is inauspicious for them to do so during this period.

The Chinese regard the number 4 with a great deal of trepidation, because it sounds like the words “die” in Chinese dialects, and apparently that is enough for us to actively seek to prevent the numeral from showing up anywhere on our license plate registration numbers.

This makes unlucky 4 the Eastern equal to the West’s unlucky number 13, but ups the ante by being infinitely compatible with other modifying numbers, like 14 (sounds like “sure to die”) or 5354 (which sounds like “not grow, not dying”), 7456 ("angry die me"), 9413 ("90% chance of death, 10% chance living"), and 748 ("go and die").

On the other hand, the number 8 fills the Chinese spirit with pure love and happiness, as it sounds like the word for “fortune”. As a result, license plates like “9898” have been known to go for a literal fortune – somewhere in the region of over SGD100,000.

This numerical obession doesn’t stop at individual numbers. There are also numbers which, as a whole, are considered ‘beautiful’. These comprise those which have won top prizes in the national lottery (4D) or simply a set that rolls beautifully off the tongue.

For some reason my dad thinks my license plate number 5968 is beautiful, although I’ve never won any money on it. But that may be because I have never been a betting man…

Take a walk along a carpark on a Sunday, and you may spot amulets hanging from the rear-view mirrors of some cars. That’s when you know the owner is a religious person, usually of the Buddhist persuasion. That said, many car-owners of other faiths do place religious sayings in the form of decals or bumper stickers in or around their cars, so that may count as decoration rather than superstition.

As for me, I’ve got an Ugly Doll hanging from the mirror and a McDonald’s Cookie Monster in one of my two drinks compartments (it was a memento from 2001 – don’t judge me). Have they worked? Well, not really.

How many of you believe that a small dent in time prevents nine? Indeed there are owners who go to great lengths to scratch their brand new cars once they take delivery of them – although they usually places these scratches in corners that are hard to notice.

The reasoning is simple: a new pristine car is statistically more likely to get scratched or dented than one that has seen a few dings or lines, just like the longer you go between accidents, the more likely you’re to have one.

Lucky dents, I’ve had a few. This is despite the fact that I never…

It’s more of a personal superstition, but I suspect I’m not alone in doing so. The decision to pick a lot which has ample space for the other vehicle occupants to get in or out – without dinging your doors – has helped my car's body stay pristine over its six year lifespan. So has my preference picking corner lots, even if I have to walk further to where I am going.

And of course, the number one superstition amongst car-lovers here must be that a dirty car attracts dents and accidents. But there may be some basis for this, if you believe what applies to cities applies to cars: the broken windows theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments to prevent small crimes such as vandalism, public drinking and toll-jumping helps to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, hence preventing more serious crimes from happening.

If you don’t believe washing and waxing works, here's some food for thought: 3 Singaporean cars have been stolen in Johor Bahru recently in less than a week. Do you think they were stolen because they looked dirty and rundown, or because they were freshly washed and waxed?

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