Measures to Prevent and Minimise Impact of Oil Spills
Ministry of TransportSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns measures to manage road oil spills, with Ms. Joan Pereira and Mr. Ang Wei Neng inquiring about incident statistics, driver profiles, and inter-agency preventive strategies. Senior Minister of State Ng Chee Meng stated that of 6,500 incidents in five years, only 13 were major cases requiring road resurfacing. To prevent spills, the Traffic Police conducts enforcement and education, while the Land Transport Authority mandates vehicle inspections and recovers repair costs from involved parties. Senior Minister of State Ng Chee Meng added that authorities are exploring deterrent penalties to further discourage negligence. Finally, the Land Transport Authority will review enhancing EMAS signage to provide more specific incident information to help motorists avoid major traffic disruptions.
Transcript
14 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for Transport in view of the recent oil spills on our roads caused by at least four accidents (a) whether the profiles of the drivers involved have any similarities; and (b) what preventive measures can be implemented.
15 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Transport (a) what is the number of oil spill incidents on public roads in the last five years; (b) how many of these oil spill incidents caused traffic jams exceeding an hour; and (c) how does LTA work with the Traffic Police to minimise the frequency and impact of old spill incidents.
The Senior Minister of State for Transport (Mr Ng Chee Meng) (for the Minister for Transport): Mdm Speaker, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 14 and 15 together, please?
Mdm Speaker: Yes, please.
Mr Ng Chee Meng: Mdm Speaker, there were about 6,500 oil spill incidents in the last five years. Most were minor spills that did not lead to significant traffic disruptions. Only 13 were serious cases that required the roads to be resurfaced, resulting in severe traffic jams. This year, four major oil spills have occurred on Singapore roads. There is no clear commonality in the profile of the drivers involved. Both local and foreign drivers and vehicles were involved.
Most oil spills are caused by accidents or breakdowns. To reduce accidents, the Traffic Police (TP) will continue to educate and engage the public through its various campaigns and enforce against reckless driving. On its part, LTA mandates regular vehicular inspections to ensure that vehicles are kept in good shape, so as to minimise breakdowns on the roads.
In recent years, LTA has claimed from the involved parties, amounts ranging from about $5,000 to $200,000 for the cost of repairs to damaged roads. LTA is looking into imposing deterrent penalties.
Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the reply. Would the Senior Minister of State consider providing clear notification to motorists and not merely state that there is an obstacle or an accident on the road because, with knowledge of the severity of the accident and timely notice, motorists would then have the option to take a route away from the incident?
Mr Ng Chee Meng: I thank the Member for the question. EMAS signs on the expressways and arterial roads currently show only the key information related to traffic incidents, such as the root causes and the magnitude. As oil spills are not root causes and are, in fact, often caused by root causes like vehicular breakdowns or accidents, they are not reflected in the EMAS.
Nevertheless, LTA will review how EMAS displays can be enhanced to convey more information about major incidents which may be useful to motorists. Currently, we also have various channels, like the radio, Twitter, smartphone apps like Mytransport.sg, all these different possibilities to inform motorists, if they so choose to use other roads to ease the congestion.