SINGAPORE: The number of traffic fatalities, fatal accidents and
persons arrested for drink driving have decreased from January to
June 2015, announced the Singapore Police Force (SPF) on Wednesday
(Jul 15).
In its Mid-Year Road Traffic Situation 2015 report, traffic
fatalities dropped by 12.4 per cent, while fatal accidents dipped
by 9.4 per cent and arrests for drink driving declined by 15.9 per
cent. Drink driving-related fatalities also fell by 63.6 per
cent.
The average speeding and red running violations captured by the
Traffic Police's new digital cameras also declined in June 2015
when compared to March 2014. The average red running violations
captured per digital traffic red light camera per month was down
83.5 per cent, while the average speeding violations captured per
digital speed enforcement camera per month was reduced by 61.3 per
cent.
However, the SPF said that there are some areas of concern in
its mid-year report. The number of injured motorcyclists increased
by 5.8 per cent: There were 2,078 cases in the first six months of
2015, compared to 1,964 cases over the same period in 2014. In
about 40 per cent of the cases, the motorcyclists were at fault.
For the same period, the number of injuries to elderly pedestrians
rose 4.9 per cent.
To encourage good road safety behaviour, the SPF is releasing a
"Badge of Honour" decal for those without any demerit points. They
can be claimed from Jul 27 to Sep 30.
"It is very encouraging and uplifting to see that there are many
motorists out there who do their best to follow traffic rules,"
said Commander of the Traffic Police, Assistant Commissioner of
Police Sam Tee. "The commendation letter by Traffic Police is our
small token of recognition for motorists."
"It is also our hope that all motorists can follow in the
footsteps, and use their road sense when driving or riding on our
roads," he added.
COMFORT TAXI DRIVERS TO GET CAMERA INFO
The SPF also announced that Comfort taxi drivers will soon
receive real-time information on where speed and red-light cameras
are located, as part of a trial by the Traffic Police.
This information will be fed directly into the Mobile Data
Terminals of about 2,000 Comfort taxis, to serve as an early alert
for drivers so that they drive more carefully when approaching
locations with enforcement cameras.
The three-month trial will start in October.
Traffic Police Commander Sam Tee noted that the majority of taxi
drivers are law-abiding, but that the police "want to see how we
can help them be safer on the roads".
At a later stage, this information could even include where
school zones and accident hotspots are located.
- CNA/av
