The road safety situation has seen an improvement in the first six months of 2015. Along with a decrease in traffic fatalities, Traffic Police (TP) has seen encouraging signs that motorists are more compliant with traffic regulations.
Fewer Fatalities and Fatal Accidents
The number of traffic fatalities decreased by 11 (-12.4%) from 89 in January to June 2014 to 78 in the corresponding period in 2015. The number of fatal accidents also decreased by 8 cases (-9.4%) from 85 in January to June 2014 to 77 in the corresponding period in 2015.
Chart 1: Traffic Fatalities
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Chart 2: Fatal Accidents
Improvements in Digitised Enforcement Camera Violations
The number of speeding and red running violations detected by TP’s new digital cameras has seen a steady decline. This can be attributed to the enhanced deterrence effect of the digital cameras.
number of violations captured by the Digital Traffic Red Light System (DTRLS) cameras has fallen by 96 violations per camera per month (-83.5%) from 115 in March 2014 to 19 in June 2015.
Chart 3: Red-Running Violations Captured by DTRLS Cameras
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Similarly, the Digital Speed Enforcement Cameras System (DSECS) has helped deter motorists from speeding. The number of speeding violations detected per camera per day decreased by 19 (-61.3%) from 31 in March 2015 to 12 in June 2015.
Chart 4: Speeding Violations Captured by DSECS
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Drink Driving Situation
The drink driving situation has also improved, as the number of persons arrested for drink driving decreased by 237 persons (-15.9%) from 1,495 in January to June 2014 to 1,258 in the corresponding period in 2015. This decrease is an encouraging sign that motorists are making road safety a priority.
Consequentially, the number of drink driving-related fatalities has also decreased by 7 (-63.6%) from 11 in January to June 2014 to 4 in the corresponding period in 2015.
Recognising Good Road Safety Behaviour
9 The improvement in the road safety situation would not have been possible if motorists did not practise safe driving habits on the roads. To recognise good road safety behaviour, TP is partnering the Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) and Shell Singapore in a new commendation initiative.
10 Licence-holders who have maintained a clean driving or riding record with zero demerit points over the last five years (from 2 June 2010 to 1 June 2015) will be receiving a Letter of Commendation from Traffic Police from 16 July 2015 onwards. More than 1.2 million licence-holders, or 64% of all licence-holders, will qualify under this initiative.
11 Motorists will be able to present the commendation letter and redeem a Badge of Honour decal at any Shell petrol station from 27 July 2015 to 30 September 2015. The decal can be displayed on their vehicle as an emblem of their good road safety record. If motorists are spotted with the decal, they also stand to win attractive prizes. See Picture 1 for the decal.
12 More demerit point-free motorists will contribute towards making our roads safer. TP hopes that this commendation initiative will encourage more motorists to display good road safety behaviour, and ensure safer roads for all. Let us use our RoadSense whenever we are on the roads.
Picture 1: Badge of Honour Decal
Areas of Concern
Notwithstanding the improvement in the traffic situation, TP will continue to step up its efforts to address two groups of vulnerable road-users.
Firstly, motorcyclists continue to remain vulnerable on our roads. The number of motorcyclists injured in traffic accidents increased by 114 (+5.8%) from 1,964 in January to June 2014 to 2,078 in the corresponding period in 2015.
Chart 5: Number of Motorcyclists injured in traffic accidents
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TP will be engaging motorcyclists and other road-users in a dialogue session to better understand their road safety concerns. The dialogue also seeks to understand the interactions between motorcyclists and other road-users such as motorcars and heavy vehicles on the roads.
The second group of vulnerable road-users are the elderly pedestrians. While the number of elderly pedestrian fatalities fell from 11 in January to June 2014 to 10 in the corresponding period in 2015, the number of elderly pedestrians injured in traffic accident increased from 81 to 85 during this same time period.
Chart 6: Elderly pedestrian fatalities and injuries
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In light of Singapore’s ageing population, TP would like to remind other road-users to look out for elderly pedestrians on the roads. TP will step up engagement efforts to reach out to senior citizens to raise awareness of road safety. For instance, TP will be partnering SRSC and People’s Association to hold the fourth Road Safety Concert for the Golden Age in September 2015. The concert will see local artistes role-playing in skits and songs to bring out important road safety messages such as the vulnerability of senior citizens and the dangers of jaywalking. TP will also continue to work with LTA on the implementation of Silver Zones which serves to enhance road safety for elderly pedestrians through road design.
Initiatives in Second Half of 2015
TP had previously announced bright orange DSECS cameras, as part of our initiative to increase the deterrence effect of enforcement cameras. In light of its success, TP will be changing the colour of our DTRLS cameras to bright orange as well. This will serve to make the cameras more prominent to motorists so that they will exercise greater caution when approaching traffic junctions. Please refer to Annex A for a picture of the new DTRLS cameras.
As part of on-going efforts to deter speeding, TP will also be conducting a trial on the use of integrated blinker signboards (IBS). This signboard seeks to give motorists advance warning that they are entering a speed enforcement zone and will serve as a reminder to adhere to road speed limits. Please refer to Annex B for a picture of the IBS.
TP will also be engaging and involving taxi drivers in creating a safer road culture for all road-users. In partnership with ComfortDelGro, TP will be embarking on a trial to incorporate the locations of the speed and red light cameras directly into the Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) of ComfortDelGro taxis. TP hopes that this will serve as an early alert for ComfortDelGro taxi drivers so that they will drive more carefully when approaching these enforcement camera locations. The trial will commence in October 2015 for three months and will involve about 2,000 ComfortDelGro taxis in stages. Please refer to Annex C for more details.
Conclusion
Jason Leow, General Manager, External Relations for Shell Singapore said: “We are delighted to strengthen our longstanding partnership with TP through this commendation initiative. Shell is a firm advocate of road safety in Singapore for over 50 years and will continue to support TP’s road safety programmes and encourage more motorists to drive responsibly so that all of us, as road users, can arrive home safely to our loved ones.”
Commander of the Traffic Police, Assistant Commissioner of Police Sam Tee said: “It is very encouraging and uplifting to see that there are actually many motorists out there who do their best to follow traffic rules. They are doing their part to keep our roads safe for everyone. The commendation letter by Traffic Police is our small token of recognition for them. It is also our hope that all motorists can follow in their footsteps, and continue their best efforts to use their RoadSense when driving or riding on our roads.”
PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
ANNEX A
New Colour of the Digital Traffic Red Light System (DTRLS) Camera
ANNEX B
Artist impression of the Integrated Blinker Signboard (IBS)
ANNEX C
ComfortDelGro Mobile Data Terminal (MDT)
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
15 July 2015 @ 12:00 AM