Prevalence of and Enforcement against Jaywalking

2 Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the past year, how many people have been penalised for jaywalking; (b) how does the Ministry monitor areas where jaywalking is prevalent; (c) how many fatal traffic accidents were caused by jaywalking in the past three years; (d) whether the Ministry plans to implement additional measures to reduce the danger of fatal traffic accidents to the elderly who jaywalk; and (e) whether there is a need to review the current penalties to deter jaywalking.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Home Affairs (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Home Affairs): In 2019, Traffic Police (TP) detected about 2,500 jaywalking violations. From 2017 to 2019, there were 59 fatal traffic accidents involving jaywalkers. Elderly jaywalkers were involved in about 68% of them.

In recent years, TP have stepped up its engagement of elderly pedestrians. In 2019, TP organised the Road Safety Carnival themed "Be Seen, Be Safe" for more than 1,000 senior citizens, to raise awareness on the importance of using designated pedestrian crossings and how to cross roads safely. This year, TP will be working with the Lion Befrienders Service Association and NTUC Health Co-operative Limited to train staff and volunteers to become Road Safety Champions to engage senior citizens on road safety.

To further improve safety for elderly pedestrians, LTA has implemented Silver Zones at locations with a high proportion of senior residents, and where there have been accidents involving seniors. Silver Zones have senior-friendly road safety features, such as rest points for pedestrians along road dividers and signs to alert motorists of the presence of elderly pedestrians. LTA plans to increase the number of Silver Zones from 17 in 2019 to 50 by 2023.

TP regularly conducts enforcement operations at accident-prone locations and jaywalking hot-spots. Under the Road Traffic Act, it is an offence for pedestrians to fail to cross at a pedestrian crossing. The composition sum for this offence was raised from $20 to $50 on 1 April 2019. We will monitor the situation and consider further measures if necessary.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon): I do not have five supplementary questions, but I have two. When I first came to Singapore, many of my cousins told me, "Don't jaywalk. You have to cross by following traffic rules. Otherwise, Police will catch you and will fine you." And therefore, I am very law-abiding. But today, I cannot say the same thing to the visitors to Singapore because you can see jaywalkers everywhere. It is so common. To many of us, we feel that there is no enforcement or very little enforcement. Will Ministry step up enforcement and whether it will use technology, for example, CCTV, facial recognition, especially at those locations that have had fatal accidents? The Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned just now 59 fatal accidents involving jaywalkers. That is very many.

The second question is, I also have residents who give feedback that increasingly, that when pedestrians cross the roads, their eyes are glued to the phone. Currently, we know that this is not enforceable. I would like to ask whether this is dangerous and if there is any action to be taken.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for her follow-up questions. As I had mentioned in my earlier reply, definitely, more education, more outreach will be conducted by TP. I have spoken about the "Be Seen, Be Safe" campaign. We will also be working with more community outreach organisations such as Lion Befrienders and NTUC Health Co-operative. The Member mentioned that, anecdotally, she sees on the roads is that there are more and more jaywalkers. We are aligned in wanting to deter pedestrians from jaywalking because it definitely causes a danger to themselves. So, we have to find effective ways of reaching out to them to tell them that this is dangerous for them. They can cause harm to themselves; they can also cause harm to motorists, who might have to suddenly swerve to avoid them and they might get into accidents. So, definitely, we are aligned in that we need to conduct more education and outreach efforts.

On enforcement, I hear what the Member has said about increasing enforcement. When there is feedback about jaywalking hot-spots, TP would intensify their operations as and when they hear feedback from the ground regarding this. On the use of CCTV and technological means, for these to be effective, as the Member mentioned, there needs to be the use of facial recognition technology. There is some feedback from the ground that the use of such technology can be quite invasive. So, while we are definitely considering it, I think we also have to be mindful that too much use of such technology may cause discomfort on the ground as well. Dr Yaacob in his Budget debate speech also talked about whether or not there needs to be a community conversation around the use of technology in public spaces.

We will bear in mind what the Member has mentioned and continuously look at better ways to conduct enforcement as well as education outreach efforts.

The Member's second question was —

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah: Pedestrians crossing the road and their eyes are glued to their mobile phones.

Ms Sun Xueling: Yes. So, that would be part and parcel of our education outreach efforts. It is not just about using your mobile phone when crossing the road. Even using your mobile phone while going up an escalator can be dangerous. When we reach out to pedestrians, especially when they are on the roads, and in this case, we are talking about elderly pedestrians, then, all the more, they need to be mindful of their surroundings. Having their eyes glued to the mobile phone is definitely a dangerous thing to do when they are crossing the road.