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Overview |
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Our roads continue to be safe, but there is still room for
improvement. While the number of fatalities in the year 2004 dropped from 212
to 194 persons, the overall number of accidents still increased. |
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Accident Situation in 2004 |
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Overall, there was a 6.2% increase in the total number of
fatal and injury accidents, from 6,444 in 2003 to 6,842 in 2004. This was
largely attributed to the number of slight injury accidents which went up from
6,125 cases in 2003 to 6,587 in 2004. The number of serious injury accidents
dropped by 38.5%, from 117 cases in 2003 to 72 cases. |
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The number of fatal accidents decreased by 9.4%, from 202
cases in 2003 to 183 cases. The number of fatalities dropped from 212 persons
in 2003 to 194 persons in 2004. |
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Fatalities |
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Last year, single-party fatal accident cases where the
motorist failed to have proper control of his vehicle went down from 42 cases
to 32 cases for motorcyclists. |
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Fewer younger riders were killed in accidents last year. In
2004, 38 motorcyclists aged below 30 were killed. This is lower compared with
44 motorcyclists in the same age group killed in 2003, a drop of 6 fatalities,
or 13.6%. |
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The number of pedestrians killed in 2004 dropped by 29.5%,
from 64 pedestrian fatalities in 2004 to 45 in 2004. |
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Traffic Education and Enforcement |
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Traffic Police have continued to leverage on two key
strategies on keep our roads safer. They are the educational arms and the
enforcement efforts. |
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Education efforts include public education programmes such
as the Road Safety Outreach, Road Courtesy Campaigns, Shell Traffic Games and
the Anti-Drink Drive Campaign. These campaigns are actively publicised through
various media channels like television, radio, press and outdoor
advertisements. The Traffic Police also conduct road safety talks and
exhibitions to schools, companies and government organisations. |
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As for enforcement, there was a 22.9% increase from 306,392
to 376,600 summonses issued in 2004 as compared to the previous year.
Summonses issued for moving offences such as speeding or careless driving,
rose by 29.0% from 130,385 to 168,245, while those issued for pedestrian
offences rose by 128.1% from 1,763 in 2003 to 4,021 in 2004. |
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Serious Traffic Offences |
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Drink Driving |
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A total of 2,929 persons1 were arrested for
drink-driving last year. Compared to the 2,389 persons arrested in 2003, this
represents an increase of 22.6%. |
NO. OF PERSONS
ARRESTED FOR DRINK-DRIVING, 2003 & 2004
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2003 |
2004 |
Difference |
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Accident Cases (incl
non-injury) |
395 |
311 |
-84 (-21.3%) |
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Non-accident Cases |
1,994 |
2,618 |
+624 (+31.3%) |
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TOTAL |
2,389 |
2,929 |
+540 (+22.6%) |
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Traffic Police urge motorists not to drive if they drink.
The penalty is severe. It is a non-compoundable offence. First-timers if
convicted will be fined between $1000 and $5000 jailed up to 6 months. For the
second or subsequent convictions, a fine between $3000 and $10,000 and
imprisonment up to a year will be imposed. |
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The court may also impose enhanced punishment of a fine up
to $30,000 and imprisonment up to 3 years on a third time offender. |
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The offender will also be disqualified from driving for at
least a year from the date of conviction or the date of completion of prison
sentence, if any. This would in effect, invalidate his driving licence.
Therefore, if motorists drink, be merry but use public transport. Be safe and
make the road safe for other road users. |
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The number of persons arrested for drink driving accident
cases2 fell from 395 cases in 2003 to 311 cases in 2004, a drop of
21.3%. With heightened education and enforcement efforts in 2005, we hope to
see further improvement in this area. |
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Speeding |
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Speeding remains one of the key causes of accidents in
2004. Last year, 82,135 summonses were issued for speeding, an increase of
67.9% as compared to 2003 where 48,930 summonses were issued. |
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There was a decrease in speed-related fatal and serious
injury accidents in 2004 as compared to 2003. Speed-related fatal accidents
decreased by 21.5%, from 65 cases in 2003 to 51 cases in 2004 while
speed-related serious injury accidents decreased by 67.4 %, from 43 cases in
2003 to 14 accidents in 2004. |
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Red Running |
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The number of red-running violations decreased by 6.5% from
17,585 in 2003 to 16,448 last year. |
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The number of fatal and injury accidents resulting from
red-running violations also fell by 8.1% from 407 in 2003 to 374 last year. |
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More..... |
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1
Calculation excludes the number of arrests made in 2004 for 2003’s offences.
2
Refers to motorists who were detected to be drink-driving when the
accident happened. Figure includes those arrested in non-injury accidents as
well. |
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Source: Ministry of Home Affairs News
Release 11 Mar 2005 |
Singapore Road Traffic Situation in 2004
