SINGAPORE – Road accidents involving cyclists and users of electric bikes fell slightly last year.

There were 417 accidents in 2019 between January and November, down from 465 accidents in the same period the year before, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a Facebook post on Thursday morning (Jan 9).

But, following this, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the improvement should not be taken for granted.

“Whether cyclist or motorist, we need to look out for fellow road users. Let’s keep everyone safe on roads,” he said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Mr Khaw visited GrabFood’s e-scooter trade-in grant centre at Midview City in Sin Ming on Thursday morning.

The centre was set up in November to let GrabFood riders tap a grant to help them give up their e-scooters in exchange for bicycles, e-bikes or personal mobility aids.

Mr Khaw presented e-bikes to three food delivery riders there, and also tried out a safe riding programme that aims to help e-scooter riders switch to other devices.

He noted that it will take some time to get used to riding an e-bike, and urged food delivery riders to join the safe riding programme organised by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

NTUC said 146 riders had attended the course as of Monday.

The e-bike population is expected to swell in the coming months.

About 2,600 food delivery riders have applied to switch from e-scooters to e-bikes for their work.

They make up almost three-quarters of the 3,550 people who have successfully applied to tap the grant to help them give up their e-scooters, Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min said in Parliament on Monday (Jan 6).

The rest have mostly applied to switch to bicycles, while fewer than 1 per cent applied to switch to personal mobility aids such as mobility scooters or motorised wheelchairs.

Source: Read Full Article