Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Measures to Ensure Safety of Young Children and The Elderly in HDB Neighbourhoods with Heavy Vehicles Plying Roads

Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Transport given the safety concerns of families with young children or elderly persons, what measures are in place to minimise the number of heavy vehicles that are using roads located within HDB neighbourhoods to transit through, where the vehicle origin and destination are not within the HDB town itself.

Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran:

1.     Heavy vehicles typically use roads that serve industrial areas and would generally keep away from residential areas. However, school buses, refuse trucks and goods delivery vehicles still need to ply roads in residential areas to serve residents’ needs.

2.     There are also occasions when heavy vehicles use residential roads to access construction sites. In such instances, LTA works with the relevant agencies and contractors to determine the appropriate routes and put in place measures such as warning signs and impose conditions such as reducing the speed limit to mitigate traffic impact and safety risks. LTA also requires contractors to deploy traffic marshals where road works result in a shared right of way, for example when a bi-directional road is made to share a single lane, or when they affect traffic junctions.

3.     To further enhance the safety of young children and elderly persons near schools and in residential areas with more senior citizens, LTA has introduced School Zones and Silver Zones. Measures adopted in these zones include a reduced speed limit of either 30km/h or 40 km/h, and the construction of speed humps and traffic calming markings to slow down vehicles.