A total of 104 children aged 12 or younger were injured in 90 tra-ffic accidents in the first half of this year.

In the same period last year, 135 children were injured in 108 accidents.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Home Affairs Amrin Amin noted the decrease, but said every child injured is "one too many", as many of such accidents can be avoided.

He was speaking yesterday at the finals of the 39th annual Shell Traffic Games, an event where pupils from various primary schools are tested on their road safety knowledge. It was held at the Road Safety Community Park in East Coast.

"The work to raise public awareness about road safety and to shape the right behaviour cannot stop, particularly for our children," Mr Amrin said.

He said the Traffic Police and the Singapore Road Safety Council will continue to educate children about dangers on the road.

This will be done through school visits, which are an ongoing programme. The Traffic Police held 190 road safety talks in primary schools for more than 23,000 pupils last year.

Besides the talks, pupils in all primary schools will also be able to learn about road safety through three new animation videos that the council showcased yesterday.

The videos, which feature Olympic champion Joseph Schooling, were produced in collaboration with students from Nanyang Polytechnic's School of Interactive and Digital Media as part of the council's 10th anniversary celebrations.

The animations will touch on three important road safety issues: designated crossings, bicycle and scooter safety, and awareness of one's surroundings.

Meanwhile, of the 12 schools that made it to the finals of the Shell Traffic Games, Compassvale Primary came out on top.

Compassvale Primary pupils Subramanian Avyuktha and Anabelle Lim Ying Xuan, both 10 years old, told The Straits Times that they found the games interesting and informative.

Subramanian said: "I learnt many new things, including hand drills and other rules on crossing the road safely. The lessons were a great experience, and we can now apply these lessons in our daily lives."

Meanwhile, Anabelle said she had learnt a new lesson: That there are blind spots between cars, and that you are not supposed to walk between them.

"If we do, the cars might not notice us and crash into us," Anabelle said.

"These lessons I learnt have made me more careful. I read that some people did not follow these rules and were hit by cars, resulting in injuries and death."