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Sharing Roads Safely

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AA Share the Road seminar saw experts sharing insights on how road users can help promote road safety for all.

AA Singapore held the AA Share the Road Seminar at AA Centre on Sunday, 19 December 2021, in collaboration with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile and supported by the Land Transport Authority, Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Road Safety Council. This event was organised in a hybrid format where participants are able to attend the event in person and online.

The Guest-of-Honour for the event was Mr Baey Yam Keng, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Transport, and Deputy Chairman of the Active Mobility Advisory Panel.

The seminar commenced with a welcome address by Mr Bernard Tay, President of AA Singapore, and Chairman of the Singapore Road Safety Council. In his speech, Mr Tay shared the initiatives from AA Singapore on road safety, which included the launch of the Busby app, an app with safety features that intelligently monitors outdoor fitness activities and raises an alert if the user is unresponsive.Another initiative of the Association is the launch of the #3500LIVES SHARE THE ROAD visual at the bus-stop shelters featuring FIA F1 racing driver Mick Schumacher and professional road racing cyclist Julian Alaphilipe. This campaign is in collaboration with the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Motor Sports Singapore and JCDecaux.DANGERS OF SPEEDING
The first speaker of the seminar is Mr Tay Chay Sim, Senior Technical Consultant of AA Singapore, who shared about ‘Speed Management and Pedestrian Jaywalking’. Speeding, as revealed by Mr Tay, contributed to around 30% of all fatal accidents, and was the biggest critical reason for single-accident crashes. Delving into the psychology of speeding, he shared that despite knowing the dangers of speeding, motorists continue to speed. This is due to the perception that they are unlikely to get a speeding ticket or sustain a crash.

Most drivers have a misconstrued idea of how much time they can save when they speed. In reality, on a 10km journey, increasing your average speed from 60km/h to 65km/h would only save you 46 seconds, while increasing your average speed from 80km/h to 90km/h would only shave off 50 seconds. So, contrary to popular belief, speeding does not save you much time at all; in fact, it increases your potential for losing control of your vehicle.

As crashes tend to happen more often at junctions, Mr Tay advised motorists to slow down and expect the unexpected when approaching a junction. Another recommendation was to reduce speed by about one-third on wet roads, as the higher the speed, the greater the impact of collision and the more serious the resulting injuries.Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Edwin Tan spoke about cycling and common sports injuries. He pointed out that on pre-COVID days, most of his injury cases usually stemmed from spartan races, rugby and football tournaments, as well as ski accidents. However, since the pandemic, he has noticed an increase in injuries that were largely due to cycling, running, as well as neck and back pain resulting from working from home.

In his presentation, Dr Tan gave tips on how to prevent sports injuries such as warming up, training adequately, going for health screenings, practising proper techniques, using proper gear, and playing on an even surface. He also shared the treatment options, both surgical and non-surgical.

THE RIGHT MINDSET
During the break interval, Guest-of-Honour Mr Baey Yam Keng was accompanied by AA President, Mr Bernard Tay and AA Singapore CEO Mr Lee Wai Mun to tour the exhibition and booths set up by AA Singapore, AAS Insurance Agency, Land Transport Authority, Singapore Police Force, Singapore Road Safety Council, Garmin, TaxiBaby.com, and Busby. Mr Baey also viewed a display of posters highlighting the different perspectives of cyclists and motorists when sharing the roads.

The 2nd segment commenced with President of the Safe Cycling Taskforce, Mr Steven Lim, stressed the importance of adopting the right mindset when sharing the roads and to be visible to other road users. He urged motorists to have a different mindset and recognise that cyclists are valid road users too.

Chief Executive Officer of Yeap Transport, Mr Adrian Yeap, spoke on safety awareness with regard to heavy vehicles. He revealed some of the safety measures implemented on school buses, such as the installation of seat belts, the inclusion of school bus monitors on board so that drivers can concentrate on the road, the implementation of telematic solutions to tackle issues related to driver behaviour, and having continuous training for all bus crew.

A panel discussion was held with the speakers, moderated by Mr Lee Wai Mun, which fielded questions from participants. Guest-of-Honour Mr Baey emphasized the importance of being responsible road users. “I believe strongly in a sharing culture complemented by rules and regulations”.

The AA Share the Road Seminar ended with Mr Baey giving out tokens of appreciation to the speakers. AA President, Mr Bernard Tay also presented a plaque to Guest-of-Honour Mr Baey Yam Keng as an appreciation.

AA Singapore would like to thank our participants and partners for making the event a success. Always remember, Road Safety is a shared responsibility of all road users and we should never take a safe journey for granted.To find out more about the Share the Road seminar, interested viewers can visit the event seminar website at https://www.aas.com.sg/sharetheroad.