Commentary: To improve road safety, we must not let drivers get away with minor infringements

SINGAPORE: There is widespread civil disobedience in Singapore. Laws are flouted in broad daylight and enforcement is barely noticeable.

Did I say it is happening here in Singapore?

Every day on the roads from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 to Zion Road.

The law says that when driving and making a turn you should use the turning indicator to signal your intention - that’s under Chapter 276, Section 140, of the Road Traffic Act (RTA).

“Signals under this rule shall always be made in sufficient time to enable traffic to take appropriate action for the avoidance of danger,” it says.

But from my observations on the road, only a small proportion of motorists bother to do so.

DRIVING 101

It can be downright dangerous when the vehicle in front of you suddenly makes a turn without warning. Sometimes I see a line of vehicles turning left, and not a single turning indicator blinking.

Another common observation: Slow-moving traffic, mostly trucks and heavy vehicles, being driven on the fast lanes instead of keeping to the left-hand-most part of the expressway.

There’s a rule under the same chapter of the RTA that makes this an offence but you wouldn’t know it from its blatant violation at every highway every day.

It causes unnecessary lane changing from faster-moving vehicles, making it potentially more dangerous for all.

Many drivers seem oblivious of the nuisance they cause, hogging the lanes for kilometres on end, even when there is a long line of vehicles trailing behind.

Then there are the yellow-box squatters who move their vehicles into these areas knowing full well they will be obstructing other vehicles at these junctions.

This is especially infuriating during peak periods at busy intersections where traffic is already slow-moving.

Finally, the bane of many motorists - motorcyclists who gamble with their lives darting in and out of moving vehicles, squeezing into the tightest of spaces defying the laws of physics and the RTA.

Dangerous driving? It seems like normal behaviour for these two-wheelers.

No wonder motorcyclists make up the most number of deaths on the road - about half of all fatalities last year despite accounting for only 15 per cent of total vehicle population.

More recently, the Traffic Police reported that more than 800 motorists have been caught speeding by red-light speed detectors over three weeks in April. Driving over the speed limit is the cause of many deaths on the road. Last year there were 33 fatal speed-related accidents compared to 18 in 2022.  

These traffic acts of disobedience - I can’t find a better word to describe them - is puzzling.

JEKYLL AND HYDE

In all other areas of civic life in Singapore, people are relatively law-abiding compared to many other countries.  But on the road, behind the wheel, Singaporeans suddenly become serial lawbreakers.

When I drive abroad, for example in Australia, I see most drivers signalling when turning, and almost every slow-moving vehicle keeping to the left lane.

Are Australians more law abiding than Singaporeans?

I think it will be a stretch to say so.

So what accounts for the difference in road behaviour, which has gotten worse in Singapore?

When I was a young officer in the Ministry of Communications (the equivalent of the Transport Ministry today) in the early 1980s, the then permanent secretary Sim Kee Boon used to praise the exemplary standards displayed by those employed by the Shell company to drive its huge fuel tankers on the road.

They are trained by the multinational oil company to be model drivers and take pride in their job.

Much of this professionalism is lost in today’s fast-paced world and those who drive for work are some of the worst offenders - including private-hire car, taxi and bus drivers.

The problem is that, over the years, with lax enforcement of these relatively minor offences and the chances of getting caught almost negligible, there has been a slow but steady decline in driving standards on the roads, whether it is obeying traffic laws or basic road courtesy such as giving way to others.

Should something be done to stop the slide?

This is the crux of the problem - someone or enough people need to ask the question and to care about it.

If no one bothers and all are happy with this state of affairs (because it isn’t such a big issue?), you can be sure it will get worse over time.

APPLY THE BRAKES BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE

Road safety was a subject of debate in parliament on Tuesday (May 7) when several MPs raised the matter after the tragic accident in Tampines last month where two people died. In its replies, the government said it had implemented various measures to improve safety including road improvements, ad-hoc enforcement and the use of speed cameras.

It was a useful discussion but I am afraid if it follows the usual pattern after every serious accident, not much is likely to change.

The dramatic accidents that make headline news aren't the problem - there will always be drivers acting recklessly or making the wrong costly decisions. Thankfully, they are usually few and far between.

The bigger issue is the daily transgressions that happen every day that encourage motorists to act without regard to the law and other users. 

Do enough people, including the authorities, care about these acts to do something about it?

Do motorists who put up with such behaviour care?

Here’s why it matters: When small infringements are overlooked, they lead to bigger and more serious ones. Not signalling to turn leads to not doing so when changing lanes or overtaking and to speeding and beating traffic lights.

The more motorists are seen doing so, the more others follow suit because it looks like the norm, and the harder it is to tackle the problem.

Motorists become more brazen because the wrong signals are being sent to them that no one cares.

The authorities need to send the message that the law has to be observed and that there is a cost to not doing so.

More selective enforcement, higher penalties for offenders, using technology such as the red-light speed cameras, more effective training of learner drivers, and more targeted public messaging - any combination of these should help.

What exactly the new measures are is not as important as signalling to the driving public that disregard for the law will not be tolerated and that the penalty for doing so will not be insignificant.

It is time to apply the brakes before it’s too late.

Han Fook Kwang was a veteran newspaper editor and is a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.