Over the last few years, the government has been trying to reduce the number of road deaths by promoting road safety among the people in Singapore. According to a recent report, all these efforts have not gone to waste. Road deaths have decreased significantly. People have become more aware of road safety and are taking more precaution.
However, the government is still concern about the elderly and also the motorcyclist. According to the article, old folks find that it is very inconvenient to use a pedestrian crossing or using the overhead bridge. This means that older folks have a higher chance of jay walking. This is a serious issue. Old folks are weaker and more prone to injuries. If they meet with a traffic accident, the possibility of fatality is rather high. So, the government has to find a method to solve this problem. In my opinion, I feel that a method to solve the problem is to rethink the positions of the overhead bridges and pedestrian crossings. Although to shift these bridges is going to be a very expensive project, I feel that it is worth it for the sake of the people's welfare. Another method is to install escalators in overhead bridge. Some elderly feel that it is a tough job climbing the overhead bridges. This would help them overcome this problem. I understand that there are already escalators in some of the overhead bridges in Singapore. Finally, the last solution would be the traditional way of education. Education can solve many problems we have Singapore now. Perhaps the community clubs and resident council could arrange talks to tell the elderly about road safety. This would be a long process and that the effect would not be seen almost immediately.
Another concern is about the motorcyclists. The vehicle these people ride provides them with little if not no protection. This means that if they meet with an accident, they would probably be very severely injured. In the article, these accidents are due to the fact that many motorist are unable to see these motorcyclists well and thus hit into them. So, the article mentioned about a possible method which is to ask the motorcyclist to wear more bright and visible colours. This is definitely a rather good idea. However, getting so many motorcyclist to wear bright colours is going to be a big challenge. Of course, I would suggest the use of education to solve this problem once more. By educating the motorists and the motorcyclists to be more aware of their surroundings, I am sure many fatal accidents can be prevented.
Friday, February 5, 2010
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1 comments:
Dear Keenan,
I agree with you that with the use of education would be able to solve many problems regarding to road safety.
Many pedestrians nowadays, excluding the elderly folks, are too lazy to use the pedestrian crossing. They just "try their luck" and dash across the road, without looking out for cars too. They are putting their lives at risk and at a gamble, which is seriously wrong to do so. Even if they are going to be late, they should never attempt to dash across the road. As the saying goes, “Better late than never”, one should not let a small mistake cause one to grieve for their entire life.
However, education in the form of talks will not be intriguing to children like us. Think about it, how many times have you listen intently when there is a “road safety talk” up at the front. The answer is not many. Children will not be able to focus on the talk and will start to talk about something else. Therefore, talks about road safety should either change to a video clip or a drama play; in this case, the children’s attention would be so absorbed in it that the education about road safety would be deeply etched in their minds.
I also agree that motorcyclists should wear bright colours to allow others to see them more clearly. Escalators, just like you said, should also be installed in every pedestrian crossing to allow the elderly to waste minimum effort to go up the pedestrian crossing.
Jing Ye
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