Written Reply by Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung to Parliamentary Question on Safety of Children Seated on Parents' Laps while Travelling in Taxis

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Transport whether the Ministry considers it safe for a child to be seated on his or her parent’s lap while travelling in a taxi.

Reply by Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung:

1.     When it comes to road safety, the answer is not a straightforward yes or no, unlike say, extreme sports or stunts. There are all kinds of precautions to keep motorists and their passengers safe – good traffic rules, stringent standards in awarding drivers’ licences, effective traffic management systems, enforcement, and most of all, drivers exercising defensive driving. I know the Member feels strongly about making child seats compulsory in taxis, and if this rule can be implemented without significant costs and inconvenience to passengers and taxi drivers, LTA would certainly have done it. But as we have explained before, the matter is not as straight forward, and we will have to continue to monitor the situation and review the rule periodically.