When I reviewed my dashboard camera recording of a road accident in which a schoolgirl was knocked down by a passing car, I was taken aback by how slowly people went to her aid.

Nobody was running. Instead, people were walking slowly and, worst of all, the people in the two vehicles next to where the accident occurred were not the first responders.

In such instances, it is not important to determine who caused the accident. Helping the victim should take priority.

What good is it to pride ourselves in our achievements when we are unable to respond swiftly to save a life?

It may be a failure in our education system, which does not place an emphasis on responding quickly in life-threatening situations, or a failure in our upbringing, where we are subtly told to mind our own business and let others solve their own problems.

Perhaps we have grown up in an environment without significant challenges or emergencies, which has made us ill-equipped to handle situations that involve quick thinking and action.

True-life everyday heroes in Singapore are few and far between.

Road safety is everyone's responsibility, but helping others should also be everyone's responsibility.

Even if we are not trained medics, we can still offer assistance like directing the traffic or offering words of comfort to the victim.

Aik Hsiao Yen (Ms)