More fatal accidents in Singapore involving speeding, red-light running, drink-driving

SINGAPORE: The Police said on Tuesday (Feb 20) that from 2022 to 2023, there was an increase in road accidents that led to deaths, the number of fatalities, accidents that led to injuries, and the number of injured persons.

In its Road Traffic Situation for 2023, the Singapore Police Force noted a “significant” increase in fatal car accidents. While 2022 saw 104 such cases, this number rose to 131 last year, an increase of almost 26 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of road accidents that left people injured went up from 6,779 cases in 2022 to 6,944 cases last year.

“Traffic offences of concern include red-light running, speeding-related offences and drink-driving,” noted the Police.

Thankfully, there were fewer red-light running and speeding-related offences incidents in 2023 than in the previous year. Red-light running violations decreased by nearly 30 per cent, from 44,688 in 2022 to 31,815 in 2023.

Significantly, speeding-related violations decreased by nearly half (45.2 per cent), from 1,138 in 2022 to only 624 in 2023.

As for drink driving, while the number of violations went down slightly from 1,691 in 2022 to 1,659 in 2023, or less than 2 per cent, the number of drink driving accidents went up by nearly three per cent, from 175 in 2022 to 180 in 2023.

The report also noted that elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists were involved in a disproportionate number of road traffic accidents last year.

“Elderly pedestrians and motorcyclists remain vulnerable to road traffic accidents,” the Police said.

Elderly pedestrians figured in 68.4 per cent of fatal traffic accidents involving pedestrians. Moreover, the elderly also made up 69.2 per cent of fatalities that involved pedestrians.

As for motorcycles, which make up only 14.4 per cent of the total number of vehicles in Singapore, motorcyclists or pillion riders figured in over half (53.5 per cent) of the traffic accidents and half of all the fatalities.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SAC) Daniel Tan, Commander TP, underlined in the report that everyone has a role in ensuring road safety.

“All of us as road users have a part to play in keeping our roads safe, and I urge everybody to give a little bit of patience when on the roads,” he said.

He also announced: “We’ll be rolling out the speed enforcement function in our Red Light Cameras starting from the next quarter… [and] come down hard on road users who blatantly disregard the law.” /TISG

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