CARRIAGE OF PEOPLE ON OPEN BACKS OF PICK-UPS AND LORRIES

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Gerard Ee asked the Minister for Communications and Information Technology whether he will consider banning or introducing stricter laws on the carriage of people, in particular workers, on the open backs of pick-ups and lorries.

The Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology (Dr John Chen Seow Phun) (for the Minister for Communications and Information): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government allows the carriage of workers in goods vehicles. This will help reduce business costs. We should continue to do so, provided the workers' safety is not compromised as a result.

Under the Road Traffic Act, the owner or hirer of a goods vehicle is allowed to use the vehicle to transport his workers to their place of work or business subject to various safety rules and requirements. For example, the workers must be properly seated and in a manner that would not cause them to fall off the vehicle. For pick-up trucks, the vehicles are required to have proper side railings to further protect the passengers. In addition, the drivers of such vehicles are not allowed to carry an excess number of passengers or travel faster than the stipulated vehicle speed limit for goods vehicles, which is currently set at 50 km per hour.

Penalties for the violation of safety rules and requirements are stringent. The LTA monitors the situation closely and, if necessary, they will work together with the Traffic Police to step up enforcement action against drivers or vehicle owners who violate the safety rules and requirements while conveying workers on their goods vehicles.

Mr Gerard Ee (Nominated Member): Sir, I would like to ask whether allowing the continuance of carriage of workers in open trucks is a contradiction of trying to build a gracious society in terms of how we treat foreign workers.

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, I think the answer is no. What is more important is safety. So if safety is not compromised, and if they are seated properly, I think it is an acceptable way of transporting workers in this part of the world.

Mr Gerard Ee: Do we have an assurance that there will be a step up of enforcement? Because it is evident travelling on the road every day that there are breaches of these rules.

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Yes, indeed, LTA and the Traffic Police have been stepping up their enforcement and will continue to do so. We will also publicise the rules so that companies know how to behave.

Dr S. Vasoo (Tanjong Pagar): Sir, in what way does the LTA monitor the carriage of these passengers? What has been done? Because I see that many of them are packed and some of them appear to be over-packed from time to time.

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, in the same way that we enforce traffic rules, speeding, and so on and so forth. Just to give the Member an indication, in 1998, 206 goods vehicles were booked for committing these offences and in 1999, this number has increased to 486. So we will continue to send a strong message to these companies.

Dr Vasoo: Sir, is message enough? That is what I am trying to find out. Because many of the passengers are perched in very dangerous positions, and if safety is one of the basic requirements, then other alternative arrangements would need to be undertaken. So I want to know what plans there are for improving transportation conditions for these workers.

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: It is not just a message. We have stringent rules. For instance, depending on the floor area of the vehicle, there is a formula that calculates the permissible number of passengers. The fines are also quite steep. And we are also looking at other measures, for instance, hand straps or hand holds and, if practicable, we can get them installed.

Dr Teo Ho Pin (Sembawang): Sir, may I ask the Minister of State how many workers have been injured using this mode of transportation so far, and have any workers died because of this mode of transportation?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: According to Traffic Police statistics, they have monitored accident rates involving goods vehicles, but they have not divided them, eg, whether the injured are open back passengers or passengers in the vehicles. But even this figure shows that the number is quite low compared to, for instance, motorcycles. If you are concerned, motorcycles are even more risky. But, of course, the point is that if you observe safety rules, then there is no concern about safety. The reason why motorcycles have high accident rates is that a lot of them speed and do not observe traffic rules. My point is that as long as we observe safety rules, there should not be any safety concern. And if the Member is interested in the actual figures, I can give him a comparison. For instance, number of passengers killed in 1999 for pick-ups and lorries, 2 (and we do not know whether they are the open back passengers or the drivers); number of people killed for motor-cycles, 11 (5 times). So I do not see the concern.

Dr Teo Ho Pin: May I ask the Minister of State so far, how does the Ministry enforce the rule that the workers are safely transported during the night, especially during the early morning where construction works are going on along the roads?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, as I said, there are traffic regulations, whether it is the proper lighting of the vehicles, or whether it is our road conditions, road lighting, and so on. And, of course, there are measures that we can look further into, for instance, fixing of luminous tape at the back of the vehicle. All these can be measures to enhance safety.

Mr Gerard Ee: Sir, I do not think we should wait for an accident to happen before acting on it. Will the Minister of State consider stiffer penalties such as impounding the vehicles that are caught breaching the rules?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, I think the present penalty is stringent enough. Let me just give the Member the figure. The punishment for first time offenders is a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three months.

Mr Goh Chong Chia (Nominated Member): Will the Minister of State consider labelling the vehicles on the maximum number of persons they can actually accommodate?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Yes, I have just said that there is a formula, depending on the floor area of the vehicles.

Mr Goh Chong Chia: Can you label it on the vehicle itself?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: I will ask LTA to look into this.