Mr Bernard Tay, Chairman of Singapore Road Safety Council,
Senior Assistant Commissioner Gerald Lim, Commander Traffic Police
Ms Ca-Mie de Souza, General Manager, External Relations of Shell Companies in Singapore,
Ms Jasmmine Wong, Managing Director of Borneo Motors Singapore,
Distinguished Guests and Valued Partners,
Principals, Teachers, Parents and Students,
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. I am very happy to be here and a very good morning to all of you. Today is the Closing Ceremony of the 39th Shell Traffic Games.
2. The Shell Traffic Games is a key programme in teaching road safety to our children. I remember this very well because as a primary school student, I also took part in the Shell Traffic Games, and I remember I was very happy to be given the role of driving the Go Kart. More than a million children had participated in the Games since its launch in 1958. Through fun and interactive games, primary school students gain hands-on experience and increase their road safety awareness as they role-play various road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, or drivers in a safe learning environment. The Games have helped to shape many generations of Singaporeans to be responsible road users, and continue to do so today.
Educating Children on Road Safety
3. The work to raise public awareness about road-safety and to shape the right behavior cannot stop, particularly for our children. In the first six months in 2019, there were 90 accidents involving children 12 years old and below. 104 children were injured as a result of these accidents. Even though this is a slight decrease in the number of cases and children injured from the same period last year, every accident and child injured is one too many and many of such accidents can be avoided.
4. Awareness and public education on road safety remain very crucial and important because lives can be saved. The Traffic Police (TP) and Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) are committed to educate our children about the dangers on the road and equip them with the knowledge and skills to protect themselves. One such platform is the regular school talks. Last year, TP held more than 190 road safety talks at primary schools, educating more than 23,000 students on road safety awareness. This remains an important channel for us to engage and share good road safety practices with children.
5. Another way to attract and reach out to children is through fun and engaging content. On this front, I am pleased to announce SRSC will be launching three new animation videos as part of their ongoing road safety education efforts. These videos are produced, in collaboration with students from Nanyang Polytechnic School of Interactive and Digital Media, and cover key road safety issues such as ‘Designated Crossings’, ‘Bicycle and Scooter Safety’ and ‘Awareness of Surroundings’. The videos are also produced in partnership with Toyota’s “Start Your impossible” campaign, as part of the SRSC 10th year anniversary celebrations, and feature Olympic Champion Joseph Schooling.
6. We will be the first to be viewing these videos today. The animation videos will be distributed to all primary schools, and will also be accessible to the wider public via SRSC’s Facebook and YouTube platforms, and TP’s Use Your Roadsense’ Facebook page.
Role of Parents and Educators in Road Safety Education
7. The responsibility of educating our children about road safety does not lie solely with TP or the SRSC. As parents and educators, we are influencers and play a critical role in inculcating good road safety habits. Our children are looking to us, day-to-day, as role models, watching and learning from us. So we must set a positive example for our children by practising these road safety habits in our daily lives, for instance, using pedestrian crossings and overhead bridges, not jaywalking, and not checking your mobile phones while crossing the roads or while walking. It is important that we ‘walk the talk’.
Closing
8. To all the participants and prize winners of the 39th Shell Traffic Games, I hope you have learnt much about being a responsible road user, and you have picked up important lessons on road safety from participating in the Games, and after you leave the Road Safety Community Park, I hope you will put the lessons that you have learnt, to good use.
9. I would like to thank our long-time sponsors - Shell Singapore, the Tote Board and Borneo Motors, who had supported the refresh works of two calling points in the Road Safety Community Park; as well as our partners - Ministry of Education, Singapore Safety Driving Centre, Bukit Batok Driving Centre and ComfortDelGro Driving Centre, for your generosity and strong support over the years to make the Shell Traffic Games a continued success. With your longstanding partnership, many children are educated on how to keep themselves and others safe on the roads.
10. With this, I wish you a safe year ahead! Thank you.
