I was sad reading the two articles on road accidents in which two girls died (Girl, 12, killed in accident in Taman Jurong; driver arrested, Jan 30; and 4-year-old girl dies in River Valley accident, woman arrested for careless driving, Jan 27).

Both cases highlight the importance of injury prevention which, as a community, we may have been taking for granted for a long time. This is a topic I feel strongly about after having seen and treated so many victims from similar accidents.

A long stretch of open straight road in between traffic lights is often an invitation for drivers to speed. An incident is bound to happen if this road is in a residential area with many pedestrians, and worse still with schools nearby, where at certain times of the day there would be more pedestrians trying to cross the road to get to a bus stop.

While there are traffic lights or overhead pedestrian bridges, these may not often be conveniently located, and certain pedestrians with mobility issues will find it difficult to use them.

So, it’s hard to blame people for wanting to take a shorter route by jaywalking across a seemingly quiet road. This is fine until they encounter a speeding vehicle, a distracted driver or one who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

In areas with many pedestrians, there needs to be more control of speed, especially for heavy vehicles. A limit of 50 or 60kmh should not apply on residential roads with high pedestrian usage, as these speeds do not give drivers enough time to react in an unexpected situation. At these speeds, the impact on a pedestrian is also potentially fatal.

We do need to think more about injury prevention and road safety in our communities. The Taman Jurong accident is an example where having designated pedestrian crossings, speed limits of 30kmh and speed bumps could have prevented this unfortunate accident.

We should also look at other areas where there are a large number of pedestrians who may exhibit risky behaviour, and where vehicles tend to drive fast.

Finally, we do need to protect vulnerable road users like children, who tend to take unnecessary risks or have difficulty reacting to complex traffic situations.

Goh E Shaun (Dr)