Road Accidents at Traffic Light Junctions

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Transport (a) how many pedestrians were involved in road accidents at traffic light junctions in the past five years; and (b) whether there are any measures which the Ministry is taking to reduce such accidents.

Mr Lui Tuck Yew: Based on Traffic Police (TP) accident data, there were about 170 accidents involving pedestrians at signalised junctions per year in the past five years (January 2007 to December 2011). This comprises 16% of the 1,050 traffic accidents involving pedestrians on average every year. In other words, 84% of traffic accidents involving pedestrians occurred at locations other than signalised junctions. In addition, 88% of traffic accidents at signalised junctions do not involve pedestrians.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has provided several safety features at signalised junctions to enhance pedestrian safety. These include turning pockets to guide turning motorists to wait safely, dashed pedestrian crossing lines to help motorists differentiate the stop line better from the pedestrian crossing, intelligent road studs that flash together with the green man signal to remind motorists turning right to give way to pedestrians, the Green Man Plus Scheme to provide the elderly and disabled more green time to cross the road, and the green man countdown timer to inform pedestrians how much time is available for them to cross before the red man signal appears.

Besides road safety engineering measures, road users' behaviour also plays an important part in ensuring safety on our roads. Most traffic accidents can be attributed to human behaviour, such as failing to give way and disobeying traffic rules. TP has developed a rigorous driver training and testing system to ensure that all motorists are adequately trained and tested before they are allowed to drive or ride on the roads. TP has also launched a Road Safety Outreach Campaign to promote road safety among all motorists and urge them to exercise tolerance and patience while using the roads, as well as several public education programmes to educate the public on road safety.

Road safety is a shared responsibility among all stakeholders and road users. While the Government continues our efforts to make roads safer, all road users need to play their part, either as a motorist or a pedestrian.

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