30 May 2022, Singapore – Globally, 3500 lives are lost in road crashes daily that are predictable and preventable. For every 24 seconds, one person is killed in a road traffic crash globally. This is far too heavy a price to pay for our essential mobility.

In Singapore, the Annual Traffic Statistics 2021 by the Traffic Police have shown that speeding-related accidents in Singapore have increased by 28% from 757 in 2020 to 969 in 2021. The number of fatalities from traffic accidents in Singapore has also increased by 28.9% from 83 people in 2020 to 107 people in 2021. Along with the increase in fatalities, a total of 7,184 people were injured in traffic accidents in 2021, which is an increase of 7.7% from 6,669 people in 2020. In 2020, there were 279 buses involved in fatal and injury road accidents.

In support of the UN Global Road Safety Week, the Automobile Association of Singapore (AA Singapore) is partnering local school bus management company, Yeap Transport Pte Ltd, to launch the “Safe Speed, Save Lives” #Love30 road safety campaign at the United World College West (Dover campus), on Monday, 30 May 2022.

AA Singapore aims to instil and inculcate a sense of ownership in bus drivers, to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities through advocating safe driving behaviours among this group of drivers.

The “Safe Speed, Saves Lives” #Love30 campaign is part of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Road Safety Grant Programme – Streets for Life #Love30 global campaign. The campaign aims to promote the concept of low-speed streets in Singapore and to encourage drivers to keep their driving speed at 30km/h in areas where people and motorists frequently mix, such as residential, silver zones and school zones. This will enable children and adults to be able to walk, live and play safely. This year, the campaign is reaching out to school bus drivers, who are a key group of drivers that frequently encounter vulnerable pedestrians such as children and the elderly, at residential, school and silver zone areas.

AA Singapore has partnered with Yeap Transport Pte Ltd to display “Safe Speed, Save Lives” bus decals on its fleet of over 400 school buses. The launch will be officiated by the President of AA Singapore, Mr Bernard Tay and CEO of Yeap Transport Pte Ltd, Mr Adrian Yeap. As part of the campaign, we have organised a road safety webinar with the school bus drivers and operators, where drivers are educated on the consequences of speeding and how the speed limit of 30km/h can potentially prevent fatal accidents from happening.

In addition, AA Singapore will be running online campaigns to leverage and maximise the exposure of the “Safe Speed, Save Lives” message through sharing of informative road safety messages and posters as well as conducting quiz giveaways on AA Singapore’s social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, to further engage and interact with the public. “Through this road safety campaign, AA Singapore hopes to raise awareness to drivers of the importance of driving at low speeds at key zone areas where traffic and pedestrians are known to interact, so as to make our streets in Singapore, a safer place for the young and the elderly to safely walk, live and play in.” said Mr Bernard Tay, President of Automobile Association of Singapore.

“We are a leading bus transport management company, providing safe, trusted and reliable service to premier schools since 1979. We are glad to partner AA-FIA on this campaign to advocate road safety to all our drivers, by reminding them to keep to a safe speed limit of 30km/h in key zones. This will ensure the safety and well-being of our young passengers and reduce speed-related accidents to save more lives.” Said Mr Adrian Yeap, CEO of Yeap Transport.