Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Audits to Improve Road Safety (Recommended Adoption of International Road Assessment Programme)

Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for Transport 

a.     whether the Ministry will consider engaging the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) to conduct periodic audits with the view to improving local road safety; and 

b.     if so, how often does the Ministry intend for the audits to be done and how will the Ministry assess the suitability of iRAP’s recommendations for implementation.

Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran:

1.    The Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Traffic Police (TP) take a comprehensive approach to road safety, from the planning and construction of roads, the conduct of regular road safety audits, to the development and enforcement of driver and vehicle safety standards. For instance, for new road infrastructure, LTA requires the contractor to submit reports demonstrating that safety requirements can be met throughout the project’s lifecycle. These reports are reviewed by an independent, professional safety team that considers key components such as the contractor’s ability to mitigate safety hazards prior to public exposure. LTA also monitors the existing network and traffic data closely, and uses the information to conduct annual road safety audits. Adjustments are then made to specific roads where necessary.

2.     Beyond that, the Government works to increase the overall safety level of our roads. LTA has been progressively implementing various road safety enhancement initiatives, such as Silver Zones and School Zones, and Red-Amber-Green arrows that have resulted in fewer accidents.

3.     Apart from infrastructure enhancements, driving behaviour is also critical to road safety. TP’s training and licensing regime ensures that all drivers are trained to drive safely before they can be licensed to drive on our roads. TP also actively enforces against errant road users. The Singapore Road Safety Council regularly conducts public education campaigns to promote good road safety habits.

4.     Traffic accident rates on our roads have improved over the past decade. In 2010, the fatality rate was 3.80 per 100,000 population. This decreased to 2.07 per 100,000 population in 2019. In 2021, the rate was 1.96 per 100,000 population, but this could partly be due to lower traffic volume arising from the pandemic. While the overall trend is encouraging, our agencies are closely monitoring this and will continue to study ways to improve road safety in a holistic manner.

5.     Agencies have assessed that there is no need at present to engage the International Road Assessment Programme to conduct safety audits.