MOTORISED BICYCLES

MOTORISED BICYCLES:

(Regulations): 11.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng asked the Minister for Transport (a) what is the estimated number of motorised bicycles in Singapore; and (b) what regulations govern these vehicles to ensure safety for the riders, pedestrians and other drivers on the roads.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport (Mr Teo Ser Luck) (for the Minister for Transport): Sir, only low-powered models of motorised bicycles not more than 200 watts which are approved by LTA are allowed to be used on public roads presently. To date, and since October 2004, LTA has approved about 6,600 such motorised bicycles.

These motorised bicycles have similar construction and performance characteristics as conventional pedal bicycles. For example, the electric motor of approved motorised bicycles can only provide assistance when the rider is pedaling. The motor power must cut off when the bicycle reaches a speed of 25 km/h or when the rider stops pedaling. These technical requirements were put in place by LTA for the safety of motorised bicycle riders and other road users.

To further enhance road safety, Traffic Police (TP) has required all riders of motorised bicycles to comply with the Road Traffic (Bicycles) Rules. These rules require motorised bicycle riders to be at least 16 years of age and to wear a protective bicycle helmet when riding their bicycle. Motorised bicycles are not allowed on expressways and the rider must not cycle against the flow of traffic

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or in a manner that would compromise the safety of other road users. Cyclists who cycle in a rash or negligent way endangering the life of pedestrians or other road users are also liable to offences under the Penal Code.

To complement enforcement efforts against errant cyclists, LTA and TP have also stepped up public education efforts. For example, TP has been giving customised talks in schools and at community-level events to provide tips on safe cycling, a pre-riding checklist and case studies of traffic accidents involving cyclists, to illustrate the vulnerability of a cyclist on the road. Road safety exhibitions providing safety tips for cyclists have also been held at HDB neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces. LTA has recently also rolled out a public education programme to educate suppliers and cyclists on safety requirements of motorised bicycles and on how to identify approved models. Posters and brochures have been distributed to community centres, foreign worker dormitories as well as motorised bicycle retailers.

LTA takes a serious view of offences relating to the use of unapproved motorised bicycles on public roads and has worked with the Traffic Police Department to ramp up enforcement against offenders. Since 1st January 2011, LTA has imposed heavier penalties on cyclists and retailers of motorised bicycles that do not meet LTA’s technical requirements. Most of the fines instituted had been doubled for errant cyclists and suppliers. These cyclists now face a fine ranging from $100 to $500, up from the previous fines of $50 to $200 while retailers who supply unapproved motorised bicycles for use on public roads now also face more severe penalties, with fines starting from $500.

I would like to highlight that every road user is responsible for safety on the

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roads. Motorists should exercise extra care when cyclists and pedestrians are around, as they are more vulnerable road users, and should give way where possible. Cyclists and pedestrians should recognise their own vulnerability, and take extra care to be alert, obey traffic rules and give way where possible. Ultimately, everyone has a responsibility to keep our roads safe and I believe that an attitude of mutual accommodation will improve safety.

Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng: Thank you very much, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, for your response. I am very grateful to the Ministry and especially LTA for looking into this topic swiftly, after the parliamentary question was raised last month. The number of riders using illegal motorised bicycles have increased more than three times, according to my research.

May I ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary what he thought the root cause of this increase might be? Is it due to oblivion for which then enforcement is, of course, a strategy? Because I have seen cyclists riding right in front of me as I drove, without helmets, speeding along and really causing quite a lot of danger. In my Facebook entry, a lot of responses came in due to this observation. Or is it due to awareness for which I heard that LTA has done a lot of "awareness" campaigns? I ask if the Senior Parliamentary Secretary could work together with LTA to ensure that more of these awareness campaigns can come to the ground, that is, out to the heartlands. Many of my residents are also asking me to appeal on their behalf because they have been booked recently.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: As a cyclist myself, I can only offer my personal views as to what is the root cause. Having cycled for many years, I think it is still a culture that needs to be developed in terms of accommodating different road users,

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especially those vulnerable ones like cyclists. Cyclists themselves must bear the responsibility when accidents occur. I know that sometimes they go at certain speeds that are not conducive to safety. I believe that it is not just LTA working on it. We need the community leaders; we need the Traffic Police department, and they must all work together. All these stakeholders are coming together. We should focus mainly on three areas: infrastructure, like dedicated bike tracks, which we are doing today, as well as education and public campaigns. All these efforts have to go to the heartlands as well. Lastly, the enforcement must come in because there will still be some cyclists who will disobey. We need to send a clear message and enforce it. Harsh penalties are necessary.

We have plans to go to the different communities and heartlands to educate the cyclists and motorised bicycle cyclists as well because I think this is necessary. As a continuing effort, I urge support from all the Members here.

Ms Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Tampines): Sir, would the Senior Parliamentary Secretary agree that a clear distinction has to be made between motorised bicycles which ride on motors and pedal bicycles which ride on human legs? Because motorised bicycles go at a very high speed, they cause greater danger to pedestrians. Can I ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary to clearly differentiate the rules and approaches to dealing with the two categories and have step-up enforcement actions against motorised bicycles on footways? Motorised bicycles are more like motorbikes rather than pedal bicycles. They should not be called cyclists because they are more like riders.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: There is a difference – one is, of course, pedaling and the other one is motorised. When one pedals, one

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probably cannot maintain a constant speed over a longer range of time. For the other, because it is motorised, one could maintain a similar speed over a longer range of time. We are looking into it. As you know, we have started to build infrastructure for bicycle lanes and dedicated tracks along the pavements. I do not encourage motorised bicycles to be on these dedicated bike lanes, as they should be on public roads. They should not be on bicycle lanes. There will still be a lot of pedestrians walking on footways and sometimes they could cross over to the bike lanes. So I do discourage motorised bicycles to be on those lanes. We will constantly review and look at what other rules that we could put in place for those bicycle lanes. This will be work in progress.

Mr Speaker: Mr Zaqy, last question, a short one.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Thank you for the reminder, Mr Speaker. Again, on the effectiveness of enforcement – we had a lot of parliamentary questions on the effectiveness of enforcing bicycles. How effective is the enforcement for this kind of motorised bicycles?

My second point is this. The Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned about riding on a bike lane. Should it be on or off? It cannot be both ways, or either/or.

Mr Teo Ser Luck: Currently, there are no rules particularly specific to bicycle tracks or bicycle lanes that we have built so far. But we are definitely looking into it to see how the rules can be applied. As I have said, I do not encourage motorised bicycles on bike lanes because motorised bicycles are able to maintain a constant speed and, if they meet a speed of 20 km to 25 km, which is still within the speed limit, for me, personally, having been an experienced road user, I think that could pose a certain danger. So I do not encourage that. Whether or not to put in

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certain rules, we will be reviewing it to see what are the things that we could do to help ensure the safety of all the pedestrians and passengers.