SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES VEHICLES

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr J. F. Conceicao asked the Minister of Defence (a) the number of accidents involving vehicles of the Singapore Armed Forces during the period 1st October, 1969, to 30th September, 1970; (b) how many of those accidents resulted in (i) loss of life; and (ii) serious injury; and (c) how much compensation for loss of life or injury has been paid between 1st January, 1969, and 30th September, 1970, as a result of accidents involving such vehicles.

The Minister of Defence (Dr Goh Keng Swee): Mr Speaker, Sir, the total number of traffic offences of every description involving Singapore Armed Forces vehicles during the period 1st October, 1969, to 30th September, 1970, is exactly 1,000.

Of these 1,000 cases, seven resulted in loss of life and in 18 other cases injuries were of a serious nature to warrant hospitalisation. Of the seven fatal accident cases, one involved a member of the S.A.F, and the others were all civilians. The six cases involving the civilians are still pending.

Compensation paid out for loss of life, injuries and damage to vehicles for the period in question amounts to $68,683.94 cents.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the accident rate is deplorably high, about three times that of British Army vehicles in Singapore. There are many reasons for the poor performance of S.A.F, drivers. Among them are lack of experience, inadequate training and low levels of discipline in some instances. There is clear evidence from Unit records of mileages and accidents that combat units have a much lower accident rate than P.D.F., Logistics and Service Units.

All these reasons stem from one basic cause, and that is the inordinately rapid expansion of the Armed Forces which we had to bring about in the last two years. This had resulted in a greatly increased demand for transport. It was difficult to meet this demand and, at the same time, maintain high standards of driving. The problem is a serious one and I am paying personal attention to it. I discussed the subject at a meeting with all Unit Commanders held on 17th of September this year. A number of measures have been introduced to improve driving discipline, to raise training standards and to reduce pressure of work.

Part of the difficulty here is that punishment for offences committed by military drivers has hitherto been dealt with in the civilian courts. Cases are heard after a long interval and quite often the penalty imposed by our magistrates is very light. For instance, an offence committed in December last year was dealt with last week and the driver was fined $45.

With the agreement of the civil authorities, it is now proposed to deal with these offences under military discipline. Henceforth, all military drivers involved in accidents will be placed immediately under open arrest, unless it is self-evident from the nature of the accident that the drivers are blameless. The military and civilian police have agreed to co-operate to make evidence available with minimum delay. Drivers will be tried not by Company Commanders but by Unit Commanders who have wider powers of punishment. A standard scale of punishment is being worked out.

Because of the increased demand for drivers, the period of training had to be reduced from eight weeks to six weeks. I have directed that the training period revert to eight weeks. Further, the number of trainees will be determined not by the demand for transport by units in the Army but by the training capacity of the driving school. Even on conclusion of eight weeks' training, it is incumbent on Unit Commanders to nurse these drivers and provide them with additional guidance and instruction.

The question of duty hours of vehicle drivers is also being examined. It is not always the case that drivers are to blame. For instance, in an accident last month which received widespread publicity in the press, when an Army truck went off the road at Devil's Bend in Thomson Road, it was found that the driver had been on duty for 19« hours at a stretch. It is obviously undesirable that drivers should be subjected to such long stretches of duty.

As a result of these and other measures, there are signs that the accident rate is going down. Between January and September this year, there was one accident for every 9,600 miles travelled by S.A.F, vehicles. Between October 1st and 15th, the accident rate was one accident for every 12,700 miles, It is still too early to say whether this represents a real improvement which will continue, but I am optimistic that if we continue to take resolute measures, the standards of driving of S.A.F, vehicles will improve and accident rates will go down.

It is likely that the enforcement of these new measures will result in temporary shortages in transport for military units. If this happens, civilian transport can be used as a supplement. It is better that this happens than that we put up with the unsatisfactory state of affairs as at present.