One in two S’pore drivers feel roads less safe than three years ago: Survey
SINGAPORE — Nearly one in two Singapore drivers feel that the roads have become less safe than they were three years ago, based on a survey by insurer AXA Insurance that was released on Monday (Nov 26).
The main reasons given were that there were more aggressive drivers (72 per cent), as well as more non-drivers on the roads, including cyclists and users of personal mobility devices (70 per cent), and a rising number of private-hire vehicles (57 per cent), the 2018 AXA Mobility Survey found.
This finding comes despite a 20 per cent fall in fatal accidents and a 4 per cent drop in accidents that resulted in injuries between 2015 and 2017, based on figures from the police.
The survey canvassed views from 812 Singaporeans between 18 and 59 years old in April this year. It examined the behaviours and experiences of road users, and their awareness of current mobility trends, for instance.
Despite 48 per cent of drivers feeling less safe driving in Singapore than they did three years ago, the majority of motorists surveyed — 81 per cent — said that Singapore’s roads were “quite safe” or “very safe”. This was markedly higher than in 2015, when 65 per cent said so.
It was not only the drivers who found their journeys less safe. Six in 10 cyclists (60 per cent) and pedestrians (63 per cent) also thought that their commutes have become less safe than they were three years back.
The top reasons given were that there were more non-drivers on the roads (82 per cent) as well as more aggressive drivers (63 per cent), and more motorists going against traffic rules (51 per cent).
Drivers and non-drivers alike admitted to committing risky behaviour on the roads. For instance, more than one in four drivers (29 per cent) said that they drove past an amber light signal, which requires drivers to stop unless they are so near the stop-line as the lights turn that they cannot come to a halt safely.
One in four drivers also travelled more than 10km/h above the speed limit and failed to make a complete stop at a zebra-crossing.
As for non-drivers, more than six in 10 (63 per cent) said that they jaywalked or failed to use available pedestrian crossings, failed to wear a seatbelt in the back seat (41 per cent), and crossed the road when the red man was lit (33 per cent).
Overall, nearly seven in 10 Singaporeans (67 per cent) admitted to engaging in behaviours on the road that were against the law, such as speeding, turning without signalling, or texting on their phones while driving, in the three months before the survey.
To improve road safety, AXA said that there is a need to curtail such risky road habits through awareness campaigns that shine the spotlight on the risks and to emphasise the practice of safer behaviour.
PAVEMENTS HAVE BECOME 'DANGER' ZONES
While more than half of those polled believe that having more personal mobility devices and bicycles was a positive development (55 per cent) and improves health and well-being (60 per cent), they were also concerned about the potential risks.
Nearly eight in 10 felt that they have made the pavements more dangerous (78 per cent), more congested (77 per cent), and contributed to more accidents (72 per cent).
The Government has accepted an advisory panel’s recommendations to lower the speed limit on footpaths for cyclists and users of personal mobility devices to 10km/h from 15km/h, and to make it compulsory for all such users to wear helmets when riding on roads. These measures will kick in from early 2019.
SAFETY CONCERNS OVER RIDE-HAILING SERVICES
A bulk of the respondents (80 per cent) welcomed ride-hailing services because they made commutes easier and eased congestion on the roads.
However, nearly half of them (48 per cent) felt that such services contributed to road accidents and made the roads more dangerous (45 per cent).
AXA said that these perceptions could be justified to some extent, as nine in 10 private-hire car drivers admitted that they engaged in at least one behaviour on the roads that ran foul of the law (96 per cent), and that could be seen as aggressive (94 per cent) or careless (90 per cent) in the three months before the survey.
CURBING ACCIDENTS INVOLVING ELDERS
In the first half of this year, nearly four in 10 accidents involving elderly pedestrians resulted from jaywalking, the police said.
To deal with accidents involving seniors, most of those surveyed support developing elder-friendly infrastructure, such as more senior-friendly road-safety features (58 per cent) and road crossings designed for elders (50 per cent). About half the respondents (46 per cent) also said that more should be done to engage and educate seniors on road safety.
“As citizens, we should also play a part by slowing down in… estates (with more elders), and keep a closer lookout for (these) pedestrians when commuting on the road,” AXA said.
