Drivers hide in the shadows at stop lights amid record-breaking heatwave

SINGAPORE: As Asia grapples with what has been dubbed the “worst April heatwave” in its history, some road users in Singapore are resorting to hiding in the shadows of nearby buildings at road crossings to get a brief reprieve from the scorching heat.

A video of such a scene is trending online after it was posted by TikTok user @randomnook on Saturday (May 13). The clip shows several cars and motorcycles parked several metres away from the stop line under the shadows of nearby buildings, instead of behind the stop line as they typically do.

@randomnook

#trafficstophumor Edit: The scorching hot sun and the human nature to stay out of being burnt does not only apply in Yishun… or only in Singapore… Added that as a figure of speech to exaggerate. No ‘shade’ to the drivers infront of us. At least I was happy with the fact that we get to stay in the shade too. Saw this happening before in the past and it’s just a cute and funny human behavior as it took me a while to know why they stopped so far away from the traffic light. Love the John cena and invisible cars jokes btw! #noshade #nohate #punintended

♬ Funny – Gold-Tiger

While some netizens found the scene amusing, others empathised with the drivers’ desire to avoid the sun’s scorching rays and suggested solutions such as building covered roads or underground roads to help alleviate the heat.

The National Environment Agency forecast on Sunday (May 14) that the weather will remain dry and hot, with short showers expected this week to bring some relief to the city-state.