The eighth Singapore Road Safety Month was launched on Tuesday, with traffic expected to increase as Singapore entered the first phase of its post-circuit breaker reopening.
Posters and banners will be put up in trains and at bus shelters and lamp posts during the month-long campaign to remind pedestrians to "ensure that all vehicles have come to a stop before crossing" and motorists to "slow down when approaching traffic lights".
First-prize winners of a road safety art competition in March will have their works printed on ez-link cards for distribution.
Although mainly located in the heartland and areas near schools, banners will be displayed - for the first time - in private residential estates in Bukit Timah, said the police and the Singapore Road Safety Council. The campaign is jointly organised by the two, together with the Land Transport Authority, Ministry of Education, People's Association and Automobile Association of Singapore.
The Singapore Road Safety Council and the police will engage road users online to reach out to more people, given the continued movement restrictions during phase one of the reopening.
The campaign launch comes after a slowdown in traffic activity during the past two months, which saw road accidents declining by over 40 per cent. Since January, traffic volume has also shrunk by an average of 60 per cent across the island.
But Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan has said that people should expect conditions to gradually return to normal levels.
Ms Sim Ann, an MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, said the inclusion of Bukit Timah in the campaign is a logical one, as "driving in residential estates requires no less caution and care than driving on main roads".
"We strongly believe that our road safety campaign needs to move from arterial roads into residential estates, and I am glad the Singapore Road Safety Council is ready to do so," she said.
Singapore has seen a downward trend in traffic deaths since 2010, from 3.8 deaths per 100,000 people to 2.2 per 100,000 last year. The number of elderly pedestrians killed on roads, however, increased by 12.5 per cent, from 24 in 2018 to 27 last year. More than half of these deaths were the result of jaywalking.
