Increasing Enforcement against Cyclists and E-bike Users for Riding without Helmets, Front and Rear Lights, and Rising against Traffic Flow

2 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Transport to increase enforcement efforts against cyclists and e-bike users riding on roads without helmets, front and rear lights for night rides, or riding against the flow traffic in fairness to motorists who may face severe penalties, including imprisonment if found liable for accidents involving cyclists or e-bike riders.

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Ms Sim Ann) (for the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, the Traffic Police (TP) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) conduct regular enforcement at accident hotspots and locations reported by members of the public, including where unsafe road behaviour by cyclists and e-bike users are observed. TP and LTA enforce against on-road cycling offences, including riding in groups of more than five, without helmets, without front and rear lights, and going against the flow of traffic.

Mr Speaker: Mr Tan.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Hougang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. This is a long-standing riding culture issue, and I have spoken on this previously. The legal duty to keep a proper lookout almost always means that many motorists are often slapped with a minimal level of contributory negligence, whether via TP prosecution or in the civil Courts. With the recent practices of the prosecution and the Courts asking or imposing stricter sentences, including custodial sentences when a person is injured in a traffic accident, I would like to ask the authorities to consider that it would not always be as fair for a motorist to receive harsher punishment if he is involved in an accident with a cyclist who is blatantly not compliant with the law, for example, riding against the traffic, beating the red lights, not having lights at night or even not wearing helmets and risking more serious injury during an accident.

I would also like to ask the Ministry of Home Affairs to take sterner actions to stop or reduce these unsafe and illegal practices to achieve better parity with the legal risks faced by motorists on the roads and work with LTA to improve the cycling culture.

Finally, beyond patrols and spot checks, how is the Ministry leveraging on closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) or other methods to identify repeat offenders riding against traffic or without lights?

Ms Sim Ann: First of all, I want to thank Mr Dennis Tan for his strong support for road safety. Indeed, we need all groups of road users, whether they are motorists, riders or pedestrians, to take more care in order for us to reduce the rate of accidents, especially accidents leading to injuries and fatalities.

As for culpability, when TP investigates cases and when assessing what kind of charges should be preferred against those who violate traffic rules, culpability will be assessed holistically. And so, I wish to assure the Member that the circumstances will be looked into, and it would not be the case where there will always be one type of road users who are blamed disproportionately. The entire situation of how the accident was caused must be looked into and I believe that is also the approach that our Courts take.

And as for repeat offenders, cyclists and e-bike users are treated like our cars and other kinds of motorised vehicles on the roads in the sense that we expect them to keep to our traffic rules, we expect them to observe them. The kinds of enforcement that we take are also similar.