The annual Singapore Road Safety Awards 2024 recognised excellent drivers and riders, and the Road Safety Seminar shared valuable initiatives and practices with participants
On 11 October 2024, the Singapore Road Safety Awards (SRSA) and Road Safety Seminar 2024 was held at Civil Service Club @ Tessensohn’s auditorium. The annual event was graced by Guest of Honour Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Minister of State for Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development. The event was jointly organised by the Singapore Road Safety Council and Automobile Association of Singapore, supported by the Traffic Police, Land Transport Authority, and Workplace Safety and Health Institute.
Award winners
The SRSA were presented to 33 recipients, including nine Excellence Awards and 24 Merit Awards, recognising the companies and individual drivers/riders who showed exemplary road safety. New to this year is the inclusion of nominations for safe drivers from point-to-point transport services on online platforms.
Among the highlights, two Excellence Safe Drivers Awards under the Public Bus Fleet category were presented to Toh Chin Tiong (SMRT) and Ho Ah Seng (SBS Transit), both of whom have maintained a perfect record, with no traffic violations for over 25 years.
Road Safety Seminar
In conjunction to the SRSA, a Road Safety Seminar was held to enhance road safety initiatives, showcasing the latest developments in road safety and bringing together heavy vehicle fleet owners to collaborate and share knowledge.
- Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)
Mr Luca Pascotto, Head of Road Safety and Global Advocacy at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), was invited to present the FIA Road Safety Index. It is a practical framework for measuring road safety impact, in the same way as how organisations track their carbon footprint.
It provides companies and organisations with a methodology to assess their road safety performance and calculate their safety footprint. It touches on ways that companies can improve their road safety culture, building a safer working environment for their employees.
The FIA Road Safety Index was part of a wide-ranging programme, which covered everything from Safer Active mobility for All, to fleet management, and engineering safer roads. By participating in this initiative, businesses can not only improve their own safety standards but also contribute to the wider goal of reducing road accidents and creating safer roads for all users.
- Automobile Association of Singapore
Mr Tay Chay Sim from AAS Academy presented the initiative ‘Safe Roads, Bright Future for Children’. The Singapore Road Safety Council set up a Road Safety Outreach Taskforce with representatives from AA, TP, LTA, Ministry of Education, and other partners, to enhance road safety through public educational outreach efforts. A School Road Safety Guidebook is being developed.
He elaborated on AA’s collaboration with Nanyang Polytechnic on a study on the extent of distracted driving in Singapore, specifically on smartphone usage while driving. The survey, conducted from March to April 2024, saw 694 respondents and gathered information on demographics, behaviour and perceptions about smartphone use while driving.
In understanding driver behaviours, 84.3% made/answered calls through built-in car systems and hands-free devices while driving, and 29.7% of them were frequent users. For texting while driving, 73.8% did and 21.5% of them were frequent users. For navigation, 93.7% used GPS while driving, with 56.4% frequent users. 82.2% listened to music while driving, with 53.4% frequent users. 43.7% watched videos while driving but only 7.2% were frequent users. The main reason mature and non-mature motorists use smartphones while driving is urgency.
In motivating motorists to stop using smartphones while driving, 55.6% cited personal safety concerns, followed by 27.8% stricter law enforcement, 8.4% educational campaigns, 3.9% peer pressure, and 4.3% others.
- Aimsun Pte Ltd
Aimsun, a global technology leader in mobility planning and digital mobility solutions, presented ‘Safer Active Mobility for All’. Its managing director, Karen Cheung, presented the FIA Mobility Advocate pilot project, a joint project with AA Singapore. The findings included three scenarios – Ang Mo Kio, Bedok-Chai Chee, and Marina South – to assess the impact of active mobility devices on other road users via its simulation tool to create virtual digital environments with an outlook toward Land Transport Master Plan 2040.
Several findings were observed from the outcomes from the simulation. More cyclists will increase the number and severity of collisions. Extending the shared path width may not improve safety as cyclists or device-users tend to speed up. Removing intersection slip roads increases vehicle delays but increases safety for active mobility users, enhanced further with bicycle boxes and the use of pre-signals.
Other Speakers
Traffic Police spoke on how elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists/pillion riders are the most vulnerable groups of road users with higher casualties.
Multiple award recipient, PEC Limited, shared with the audience on the strong incorporation of road safety protocols and procedures amongst drivers in their transport fleet.
LTA spoke about ‘Engineering a Safer Road for All’ – a four-pronged Safe System approach of Safe Roads, Safe Speeds, Safe Vehicles, and Safe Road Users, ensuring Singapore registered vehicles meet safety and emission standards.
SAF talked about the ‘SAF Vehicle Command Concept’ where the roles and responsibilities of the vehicle commander package are in risk management (pre-transport), safety enforcer (during transport) and contingency management (post transport).Exhibitors
Besides the SRSA & Road Safety Seminar, AA Singapore also participated in the booth displays with other organisations and companies such as Traffic Police, Giti, Seah Hin Pte Ltd (authorised speed limiter agent), POLWEL, and LTA.
