Duty of Care: the missing Road Safety Message

For years, road safety campaigns have relied on a comfortable, symmetrical logic. We are told that "Safety is everyone's responsibility" and that "It takes two hands to clap." These phrases suggest a partnership of equals, where a motorist and a elderly pedestrian share the same burden of preventing a tragedy.

At SAMU, we believe it is time to challenge this narrative. While the sentiment of mutual respect is valuable, the physics of the road tell a different story. When we treat a two-ton vehicle and a fifteen-kilogram bicycle as equal stakeholders in safety, we ignore the reality of risk and the fundamental "Duty of Care" that comes with operating a powerful machine.

The Two Dimensions of Responsibility

To have a honest conversation about safety, we must separate responsibility into two distinct categories:

1. For me: The Responsibility for Self-Preservation This applies to every person on the road. Whether you are walking, cycling, or driving, you have a natural, biological interest in staying safe. A pedestrian looks both ways before crossing not because they are legally obligated to "assist" a driver, but because they wish to survive. This is an internal responsibility.

2. For others: The Duty of Care Toward Others This is where the symmetry breaks. In any interaction, the responsibility for the safety of others must be proportional to the potential harm one can cause. A person walking or cycling poses almost no physical threat to a person inside a car. Conversely, the person operating a motor vehicle is introducing a lethal level of force into the public space. Therefore, the "Duty of Care" rests overwhelmingly with the operator of the more powerful machine.

"Two Hands Clap" is a poor analogy

The Singapore Road Safety Council often uses the phrase "It takes two hands to clap" to imply that motorists and AM users share the responsibility for a collision. This analogy is physically and logically flawed.

In a collision between a car and a cyclist or a pedestrian, only one party is bringing life-threatening force to the encounter. To suggest that a cyclist’s lapse in attention is "half the problem" ignores the fact that a cyclist’s error rarely results in the death of a driver. However, a driver’s error almost always results in the injury or death of the active mobility user.

Safety is not a fifty-fifty split; it is a weighted obligation. The more power you wield, the higher the standard of care you must be held to.

"Jaywalking" = Victim Blaming

We often see advice directed at pedestrians to "cross only at designated crossings" and "not to jaywalk." This terminology is designed to shift the blame from the system to the individual.

Labeling human movement as "illegal" simply because it occurs outside of a painted line is a way of prioritizing the speed of motorized traffic over the convenience and safety of people. A pedestrian choosing the most direct path is behaving naturally. A road system that makes that direct path dangerous is a failed system.

By framing every crossing outside of a designated area as a "violation," we provide a convenient excuse for motorists to lower their guard. We must move toward a system where drivers expect to see people everywhere, not just where the paint allows them to be.

Duty of Care: a new Road Safety Advocacy in Singapore

For the SAMU community, our message is clear:

  • We will continue to practice self-preservation because our lives depend on it.

  • However, the operator of heavier machinery must take up the Duty-of-Care to prevent harming others.

True "Systematic Safety" requires us to acknowledge that those who introduce the most risk must carry the most responsibility. It is not enough to ask active mobility users to "be visible" or "be careful." We must ask the system and the motorists within it to be accountable for the power they control.

Safety is not about clapping in unison; it is about the powerful protecting the vulnerable.

Interested in the data behind these principles? Explore our full [Road Safety Report] to see how the Hierarchy of Controls can transform our streets.

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