Why It’s Time to Rethink Safety on Our Streets and Paths?

Welcome to the Safety for Active Mobility Users (SAMU) Blog

We are a registered society in Singapore with one clear mission: to champion the safety of everyone who walks, cycles, or rides on our public paths and roads.

Whether you commute daily by bicycle, take a morning walk to the market, or depend on a personal mobility device for work, you likely share our concerns. Our paths are crowded, our roads often feel unsafe, and our regulations seem to shift faster than we can keep up.

The “Whack-a-Mole” Cycle

In 2019, Singapore banned e-scooters from footpaths after attempts at “gracious sharing” fell short. Now, in 2025, similar restrictions are being introduced for mobility scooters (PMAs), including new medical certification requirements and a speed limit of 6 km/h.

While SAMU supports meaningful safety measures, this recurring “whack-a-mole” approach addresses symptoms rather than root causes. The core issue lies in a system that places users with vastly different speeds and masses - from heavy motorised devices to frail seniors - on the same narrow paths, all under a broad concept of “Shared Responsibility.”

Why “Shared Responsibility” Falls Short

The message from authorities has long been one of “graciousness” and “shared responsibility.” While it sounds fair in principle, the reality on the ground tells a different story. When a 1,500 kg car collides with a cyclist, or a speeding bicycle hits an elderly pedestrian, the impact is never shared equally.

Official data reflects this imbalance. The Police’s Mid-Year Traffic Situation 2025 highlights troubling trends:

  • Rising fatalities: Traffic deaths increased by nearly 10% in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024.

  • Elderly at greatest risk: Seniors aged 65 and above accounted for nearly 79% of all pedestrian fatalities in that same period.

  • Rampant speeding: Speed-related offences surged by 45.5%.

Telling our growing elderly population - who will soon make up one in four Singaporeans - to “stay alert” is not a safety strategy. It is a failure of design and policy.

Our Vision:

Building a Culture of Care: Use infrastructure design and clear tiers of responsibility together to establish safe, consistent norms. Once this culture of care takes root, rules can gradually relax and simplify because safety will have become the social expectation rather than a condition enforced by law. 
These efforts will help us to achieve the goals of Singapore’s Land Transport Master Plan 2040 - creating “20-Minute Towns” and a “Car-Lite” society - we must go beyond piecemeal enforcement and rethink our infrastructure. SAMU is calling for:

The Hierarchy of Responsibility

SAMU calls for a shift from “Shared Responsibility” to a “Hierarchy of Responsibility.” The principle is straightforward: those who can cause greater harm must bear greater responsibility for preventing it.

  • On the road: Motorists should hold primary responsibility for the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.

  • On the path: Cyclists and device users should hold primary responsibility for the safety of pedestrians.

This framework is grounded in physics, not punishment. When faster or heavier users accept responsibility, they naturally adjust their behaviour, riding at speeds that allow them to stop safely if a vulnerable person makes a mistake.

What We Advocate

  1. Dedicated Infrastructure: Reclaim selected road lanes to build protected “Active Mobility Lanes” that physically separate cyclists and mobility device users from both cars and pedestrians. This concept aligns with the “Barcelona Superblocks” model already referenced in Singapore’s Master Plan.

  2. Legal Reform: Update traffic and liability laws to align with the Hierarchy of Responsibility, providing greater protection for vulnerable users.

  3. Data-Driven Policy: Replace good-intentioned campaigns with evidence-based engineering and enforcement measures that directly reduce risk.

Join Us

SAMU aims to bridge the gap between policy and daily reality. We work with authorities, but our voice comes from the ground up - from those who use our paths and roads every day.

Follow this blog for updates on our advocacy efforts, insights into transport policy, and opportunities to take part in shaping a safer Singapore. Together, we can build a city where safety is not an act of courtesy, but a shared guarantee.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Our Crossings Feel Unsafe And How We Can Fix It

Image
If you are an older pedestrian in Singapore, or a parent holding a child’s hand, you may have noticed something unsettling. The very place where the law tells you to cross, the designated pedestrian crossing, no longer feels completely safe. You wait for the green man. You look left and right. You step forward because the signal says you can. Yet you still feel the need to scan every approaching car, just in case a driver does not stop. That feeling is not irrational. It reflects a deeper shift in how we think about responsibility on our roads. And it is worth asking whether that shift has gone too far. The Rise of “Shared Responsibility” For years, public messaging has emphasised that road safety is everyone’s responsibility. Drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, riders. All must be careful. On the surface, that sounds reasonable. But it also smooths over an uncomfortable fact: a car can cause far greater harm than a person on foot. When something goes wrong, the pedestrian almost always su...
Read more

The Strait of Hormuz, Oil Shocks, and Why Cycling Infrastructure Matters More Than We Think

Image
Cycling infrastructure is not just transport infrastructure. It strengthens energy security, improves public health, supports an ageing population, reduces household transport costs, improves urban liveability, strengthens community connection, and supports environmental sustainability. In an uncertain world of oil shocks, pandemics, rising healthcare costs and climate pressures, cycling is not a niche transport mode — it is a resilience strategy. Petrol crossed S$3.30 a litre earlier this year. The Energy Market Authority has warned Singaporeans to expect higher and more volatile energy costs. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has also warned of severe consequences if energy disruptions in the Middle East persist. At the centre of this risk sits the Strait of Hormuz , one of the world’s most important oil shipping routes. Singapore may be far away geographically, but we are deeply connected economically. Any disruption affects fuel prices, transport costs, logistics, and eventually ...
Read more

A New Perspective on Road Safety: Building a Road System That Protects Everyone

Image
When we talk about road safety, the conversation usually centers on behavior. We speak about "better drivers," "paying attention," and "following the rules." While individual responsibility is important, this approach overlooks a fundamental truth of human nature: people make mistakes. In most areas of our lives—whether it is the design of a workplace, a kitchen appliance, or a hospital—we expect the system to have built-in safeguards. If a person slips or forgets a step, we want the environment to prevent that minor error from turning into a tragedy. For decades, however, our roads have been the exception. We have built high-speed environments and then expected humans to navigate them with absolute perfection. This is where the concept of Systematic Safety, often called Sustainable Safety, comes in. It represents a fundamental shift in how we think about our streets and highways. Moving Beyond Blame The core idea of systematic safety is simple: the road s...
Read more