38th Annual Shell Traffic Games 2018 - Speech by Ms Sun Xueling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development

Chairman, Singapore Road Safety Council, Mr. Bernard Tay,

Commander Traffic Police, Senior Assistant Commissioner Gerald Lim,

Distinguished Sponsors and Valued Partners,

Principals, Teachers and Students,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

1.     Good morning. I am happy to be here with you for the closing of the 38 ^th Shell Traffic Games.

The Shell Traffic Games and Road Safety Community Park – Our Shared Experience

2.     I’ve learnt that the Shell Traffic Games has been around since 1958, and many generations of students have participated in the Shell Traffic Games. It has become a part of our growing up years and I am sure it is one of many shared memories that I believe still brings fond memories for many of us, even the adults amongst us.

3.     The Shell Traffic Games provides a platform for students to learn about road safety through fun and interactive games. 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 Shell Traffic Games have continued to play an integral part in our children’s road safety education, and I am sure it will help mold all of us to be responsible road users.

Road Safety Community Park Enhancements

4.     We must continue to impress upon, not just ourselves, our family members, the young children with us, but also to the wider public, the importance of road safety and to have good road sense.

5.     The Traffic Police has continued to step up efforts to educate the public on Road Safety. Since 2017, TP has launched an online learning portal, which is accessible via the SPF website and the Police@SG mobile application, which provides free educational material such as the basic and advanced theory handbook, and road safety tips for all road users.

Enhance Leverage of Technology

6.     For this year, TP is working on two main initiatives for road safety education.

7.     The first, is to incorporate technology into the Road Safety Community Park experience that will allow for more enhanced and interactive learning.

8.     Last year, TP rolled out a pilot initiative to replace the traditional route cards with a mobile application for participants in the Shell Traffic Games competition. This would allow TP to improve the conduct of the Shell Traffic Games by automating the tabulation and analysis of the game results. It also freed up the teachers and NPCC marshals to interact with the students during the games for better learning outcomes.

9.     Due to its success, TP has extended the mobile application to the daily training sessions at the Road Safety Community Park. All participants of the daily trainings now have a virtual reality experience to simulate crossing the road, complete with 360-degree videos and an interactive game. I’m sure we all know how important that is, because many of our young children don’t play card games anymore; everyone is on the digital platform. So this initiative from TP is very timely and useful for our uses.

10.     We have found that teachers and students who have used the new training tools have enjoyed the experience and found it effective in achieving the training objectives. To extend its outreach to the wider public, TP will also explore rolling out a public version of the mobile application to be used by members of the public who visit the Road Safety Community Park.

Enhance Content Development

11.     The second initiative is to develop new animation videos on road safety practices that will appeal to the audience. I think we roughly get the trend that we are moving along now. So not only do we have digital application, we also have animation videos because we feel that it will be attractive to the wider audience.

12.     Road safety education is a lifelong journey and it does not stop at the Road Safety Community Park. In view of the successful collaboration last year, the Singapore Road Safety Council, together with TP and Shell, have continued the collaboration with students from Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Interactive and Digital Media, to develop three new animation videos to educate students on key road safety practices such as the dangers of playing at kerbs, the dangers of crossing at the road bend, and of course, the very big and important thing that everybody must remember – to wear a seatbelt. We will be among the first few people to view the videos later.

Partnership with the Key Stakeholders

13.     The efforts of the Traffic Police will not be sufficient without the support from the community and our partners, many whom are present here today. Our roads are safer today because of the close partnership and collaborative effort by the community, the private sector and the government. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation for your commitment and support in promoting road safety. I hope that this partnership will continue to strengthen for many years to come.

14.     Lastly, but most importantly, I would like to congratulate all our young participants of the Shell Traffic Game Finals! I am sure that regardless of the outcome of the competition, all of you would have had fun, and you have learnt many useful lessons on road safety. Please continue to remember these road safety tips, use them daily, and also teach your parents - all of you, road safety ambassadors.

15.     Once again, thank you all for your support, and for working with the Traffic Police and Singapore Road Safety Council to keep our roads safe.

16.     Thank you.