Mr Khoo Boon Hui,

Commissioner of Police

Distinguished guests

Principals, teachers and students

As parents and teachers we are concerned whenever our young children go out to school or to play that they look after themselves well and return safely. We are particularly concerned as to how they use the roads. We teach them to walk on the pavements and cross the roads safely. We do so because compared to adults, children are less familiar with the road environment and may get into accidents. And the figures show that our concern is not wrong.

From January to September this year, three young pedestrians below the age of 15 died in traffic accidents. Another 164 were injured. Many of these accidents happened because the children ran across the road without looking; did not use proper crossings like zebra crossings or signalised pedestrian crossings; and crossed when the 'red man' light was on.

We can and we must all help. It is our duty to make sure that our children know all about road safety and pick up good habits. Parents have to set a good example. Principals and teachers have to advise their students. Drivers have to look out for young road-users and be extra careful when driving near schools and playgrounds. Together we can prevent these accidents.

This Road Safety Park is specially designed to teach students how to use our roads safely. Over the past 18 years, more than one million school children have visited this place. As a parent and a former principal, I am happy that so many of our children have learnt a life-long skill, while having fun. We must thank the schools. We also thank our generous sponsors. We are especially grateful to Shell for supporting this project from the beginning. I hope our schools continue to encourage many more of our children to come to this Road Safety Park. We should also thank the Traffic Police for operating the park.

Today, with the help of the Singapore Safety Driving Centre, the Bukit Batok Driving Centre and the Comfort Driving Centre, we will upgrade the training programme at this Road Safety Park. From now on, students will get a chance to play double roles -- as pedestrians and cyclists, or pedestrians and drivers. They can also try a road safety quiz and take part in a fun cycling and driving course. This should add to the excitement.

I am happy to launch this enhanced road safety park training programme. I wish all our students lots of fun learning about road safety. Thank you.

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