TAXI ACCIDENT RATES

TAXI ACCIDENT RATES

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(Reasons and stricter guidelines): **

8.

Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether the Ministry will analyse the root causes of high taxi accident rates and consider having stricter guidelines for taxi drivers, including mandatory training hours annually before licence renewal; and (b) if there has been a significant increase in the number of taxi licences issued during the recent economic and financial crisis.

Mr Raymond Lim Siang Keat: The accident statistics for taxis have to be seen in the context of the much longer distances that taxis travel compared to other vehicles such as cars. When the accident rates are normalised to the mileage travelled, taxis are not worse than the general car

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population, with an average accident rate of 0.17 per 1 million km travelled for taxis in 2009, compared to cars at 0.28 per 1 million km.

Nevertheless, we share Assoc. Prof. Fatimah Lateef's view that it is important that adequate provisions are made for the training of taxi drivers and to ensure that they drive safely on our roads. The Land Transport Authority has these in place. For a start, an applicant for a Taxi Driver's Vocational Licence (TDVL) must have held a Class 3 driving licence for a continuous period of one year immediately prior to the application for the TDVL. Applicants then undergo a training course and a test covering the various aspects of holding a vocational licence, including conduct required of a taxi driver, relevant rules and regulations, key routes and landmarks, and the names and location of key buildings.

Even after obtaining their vocational licences, TDVL holders must continue to maintain acceptable driving and disciplinary records, failing which their TDVL may be suspended or revoked.

The recent economic downturn did not see any significant increase in the number of TDVLs issued. The number of new TDVLs in the past one year (May 2009 to April 2010) was 4,200, compared to 3,600 in the preceding year (May 2008 to April 2009) and 4,800 two years ago (May 2007 to April 2008).

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