Speaking at the Singapore Road Safety Council Gala Dinner on October 21, Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law, Mr. K Shanmugam, announced that the Traffic Police will trial an Intelligent Driving Circuit (IDC) at the Singapore Safety Driving Centre (SSDC) in 2021. Full implementation at SSDC is planned for 2023.
The IDC is the first in south-east Asia. Intelligent cameras and sensors will be used to assess the learners during their lessons and during the practical test in the circuit. There will not be any need for a tester in the car. This is expected to result in better outcomes for the learners and more flexibility in scheduling circuit tests.
Mr. Shanmugam said, “Using technology to conduct driving lessons and tests will enhance the effectiveness of lessons, increase productivity and allow lessons to be taken outside of the current operating hours to better suit learners’ schedules. The result of it is that the period of learning can be substantially shortened.”
In addition, the Singapore Road Safety Council (SRSC) and the Traffic Police have worked with the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) to raise road safety awareness. They have started using Virtual Reality for public education. This enables road users to experience dangerous situations without putting them in actual danger.
By 2019, all new learner motorists will undergo computer simulation training. Learners will pick up defensive driving skills in a safe and controlled environment, and trials will commence in February 2018 at the three driving schools.
Mr. Shanmugam also talked government partnerships with key industry stakeholders. AA Singapore has been running vocational driving courses to ensure that our heavy vehicle drivers practise good driving habits, bringing in expertise people and standards of training from overseas.
AA Singapore also teamed up with SRSC for this year’s Road Safety Awards with two subsidiaries AA Singapore Academy and AA-SPCS to sponsor the Champion Awards.
One of this year’s winners, NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited, set up a Safety Committee to look at the ground practices and improve them. They invested in regular maintenance of both the vehicle fleet, as well as the tracking system through GPS. The data from the GPS allowed them to analyse rider behaviour and they were able to correct the rider behaviours, train their riders better and equip their riders with a training package, including a 2-week attachment to a Senior rider for road familiarisation. They also gave their riders personal protective equipment – riding gloves, safety vests with reflective stripes.
