LAST week, I saw many people waiting in front of an ERP gantry on the PIE towards Tuas.

They were waiting for the ERP period to end before passing through the gantry.

Even though they were waiting for only a few minutes, their behaviour smears Singapore's image as a wonderful nation.

The road shoulder of expressways are not meant for vehicles to escape paying ERP - they are meant for emergencies and for cars that have broken down.

While I understand the desire to save money amid a declining world economy, such behaviour is inappropriate.

I have a few suggestions for stopping such behaviour:

• Use cameras to photograph errant drivers and to deter others from parking on road shoulders.
• Remove road shoulders 1km before the ERP gantry, to prevent drivers from waiting in the vicinity.
• Get more Traffic Police officers to patrol ERP gantries and book offenders.
• Penalise the offenders heavily to teach them a lesson, so that they won't do it again.
  

Mr Kevin Wang

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