Debated in Parliament on 7 Nov 2016.
Ms Chia Yong Yong asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the Government has studied the trends in increased jaywalking; (b) what are the numbers of jaywalkers over the last five years; (c) how many of them have been warned or penalised for jaywalking; and (d) what are the Government's plans to penalise jaywalking and ensure that jaywalking will be brought under control.
To get a sense of the jaywalking situation, the Police monitor two indicators: the numbers of fatal and injury accidents involving pedestrians who jaywalked. In 2011, there were 25 fatal accidents and 292 injury accidents involving jaywalkers. In comparison, in 2015, there were 22 fatal accidents and 208 injury accidents involving jaywalkers.
While the numbers of fatal and injury accidents involving jaywalkers have fallen, nevertheless, jaywalking remains an issue we are concerned about.
We need both enforcement and education to tackle this issue. The Traffic Police (TP) deploys officers at jaywalking hotspots to enforce against jaywalking and educate pedestrians on safe road use. On average, in the last five years, TP issued about 7,400 warnings or summonses for jaywalking each year.
TP regularly engages pedestrians on road safety and good road-use practices, especially the young and elderly, who are more vulnerable. Last year, TP partnered Shell to organise the 35th Shell Traffic Games to educate primary school students on road safety. TP also partnered the Singapore Road Safety Council, Tote Board and Singapore Pools to organise the Road Safety Concert for the Golden Age to educate elderly pedestrians about safe road-use.
TP will also be launching another road safety campaign targeting the elderly later this year. The campaign will provide an easy self-test kit for elderly pedestrians to learn more about their visual, hearing and reflex capabilities, and help them better understand themselves and the risks of jaywalking.
The Government will continue to implement road safety features for pedestrians. For example, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has installed metal barriers along the road or centre divider to discourage jaywalking. LTA will also build more pedestrian crossings to facilitate safe crossing. TP works closely with LTA on the "Silver Zone" initiative, which brings senior-friendly road safety features to mature estates with high concentrations of elderly folks. LTA will expand the Green Man Plus Scheme, which allows seniors extra time to cross the road by tapping their senior citizen EZ-Link cards.
It is also the pedestrians’ individual responsibility to ensure that they practise good road safety habits, including not jaywalking. We would like to remind pedestrians to always use proper pedestrian crossings, for example, traffic light junctions, zebra crossings, overhead bridges and underpasses. All road users have a part to play in keeping our roads safe. Other road users, including motorists and cyclists, also need to look out for pedestrians.
PAPERCUTS