ROAD SAFETY FOR MOTORCYCLISTS

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are plans by the Traffic Police Department to work with motorcycling clubs and interest groups to improve rider skills and defensive riding, with the aim of promoting better road safety.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Traffic Police has been working in partnership with various organisations to promote motorcyclists' safety and to improve road safety. These organisations include the ITE Ang Mo Kio Safe Riding Club, Harley Davidson, National Safety Council, tertiary institutions and organisations with large fleets of motorcycles such as TRICON Restaurants International. A good example of such a programme carried out jointly by Traffic Police and the various organisations is the Motorcyclists' Safety Carnival organised with Harley Davidson. Another example is the Road Safety Awareness Talk organised with Ang Mo Kio ITE Safe Riding Club.

These safety programmes focus on rider skills, defensive riding and the attitudes of a safe motorcyclist. Techniques such as case studies, simulated riding training, riding demonstrations are used to help participants understand the different aspects of motorcyclists' safety. In addition to these, there are ongoing public education efforts which stress the need for drivers of motor vehicles to give way to motorcyclists.

Traffic Police has also incorporated new training and testing initiatives in the Class 2B training curriculum to better equip motorcyclists with the challenges faced on the roads. These include emergency braking on wet surfaces as well as night training where learner riders are exposed to riding conditions at night.