Elderly pedestrians remain a vulnerable road user group, accounting for a third of accidents involving pedestrians which have resulted in injuries or death. In the first six months of 2022, there were 117 accidents involving elderly pedestrians [1], with 9 fatalities. Close to half of these accidents were attributed to jaywalking. The Traffic Police (TP) is especially concerned that the number of elderly pedestrian fatalities have almost doubled, compared to the same period in 2021.
To educate the elderly about road safety, TP and the Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC), with support from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the People’s Association (PA), held a Road Safety Concert for Seniors at the SingPost Auditorium on 27 August 2022. Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Social & Family Development, was the Guest-of-Honour.
The Road Safety Concert for Seniors 2022 is TP’s first large-scale physical engagement event after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 people attended the concert in person. The concert was also live-streamed via Traffic Police’s ‘Use Your Roadsense’ Facebook page which had garnered more than 4,000 views to date.
The star-studded concert featured performances by renowned local artistes, such as Marcus Chin (陈建彬), Kelvin Soon (孙文海), Cola Lau (阳光可乐), Asmiyati Binti Asbah (Yati) and Poobalan s/o Morgan (Balan).
The event also featured two sharing sessions relevant to road safety for seniors. One was by TP’s road safety champion [2], Yeow Seng Yong(邱胜扬), who shared some useful road safety tips for seniors. The other was by Ken Tong, the President of the Optometric Association, who shared the importance of eye care for pedestrians and drivers in a talk tilted “An eye opener to your health”.
To reinforce the road safety messages, exhibition booths on road safety were setup. This event is part of TP’s and SRSC’s ongoing engagement and educational efforts to raise road safety awareness, and to inculcate good road habits among the seniors.
Road safety is a shared responsibility. The dangers of jaywalking should not be underestimated. Seniors are encouraged to always use pedestrian crossings or overhead bridges when crossing the roads. Please refer to the Annex for photographs of the event.
[1] Elderly pedestrians refer to pedestrians aged 60 years old and above.
[2] Road Safety Champions are volunteers who help Traffic Police to spread road safety messages at events.
ANNEX
PHOTOGRAPHS OF EVENT
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
28 August 2022 @ 8:10 PM