Unsupervised toddler walks across Marsiling Road junction, sparking road safety concerns, Singapore News

In just under a week, two videos have emerged showing children walking across roads, with the latest being a toddler in Marsiling. 

The latest video, shared by Roads.sg on its Facebook page on Tuesday (Oct 13), shows a toddler stumbling across the junction of Marsiling Road and Marsiling Drive. 

She is first seen standing alone at a pedestrian crossing in front of Marsiling Heights as cars and lorries pass by. 

Just after a lorry crane passes the crossing, and while the red man is still on, the girl is seen walking onto the road and standing in the middle of Marsiling Road towards Marsiling Rise.

Thankfully for her, left- and right-turning vehicles from Marsiling Drive are still waiting for the traffic lights to turn green in their favour.

A woman is then seen running towards the girl, picking here up after about 18 seconds.

While some several media users asked why other drivers did not come forward to take the girl to safety, others shared that they have seen similar incidents happen when parents or domestic helpers were not attentive.

On Oct 8, a school boy was struck by a car along Bishan Street 11 after he dashed across the road, straight into the path of the oncoming car.

In that instance, police and Singapore Civil Defence Force assistance were purportedly not sought, but it is unclear whether the boy was separately taken to hospital.

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Protecting kids a shared responsibility

In April, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and National University Centre for Trauma at the National University Hospital (NUH), in collaboration with the Traffic Police and Land Transport Authority, called for collective efforts to curb the increase in road traffic accidents.

“Children are among the most vulnerable in road traffic accidents and yet it is deeply concerning that in Singapore they have the poorest compliance with safety measures across all age groups,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Ronald Tan, who chairs KKH’s injury prevention working group. 

Dr Tan, who is also a senior consultant at KKH’s department of emergency medicine, added that protecting children must be a shared responsibility.

“We witness daily the severe and sometimes fatal consequences of road traffic injuries on young lives and the devastation these incidents bring to their families. 

“What makes this even more distressing is that many of these injuries are entirely preventable,” Dr Tan said.

Data from the National Trauma Registry shows a rising trend in trauma injuries among children aged 16 and below between 2022 and 2024. 

“Between 2022 and 2024, the public healthcare institutions in Singapore received approximately 100 children aged 16 and below who required trauma care daily,” the registry said.

In 2024 alone, there were 6,043 cases of trauma injuries involving children aged 16 and below.

Of these, 25 cases were classified as moderate or severe.

And of the trauma cases, 40 per cent involved children up to the age of five.

In addition, eight in 10 of the moderate to severe childhood injuries were due to falls, vehicular accidents and drowning.

Since this year, Traffic Police and the Singapore Road Safety Council have introduced “Road Safety Corners” to selected schools.

Under the initiative, dedicated learning spaces featuring road safety advisories and zebra crossing stickers are in place to allow teachers to conduct road safety education through interactive scenarios throughout the school year.

Parents are reminded that children must be taught not to sprint across roads, or cross in front of a stationary vehicle, or between stationary vehicles. 

Children should also be taught to stop at the kerb, look all around, and listen for oncoming vehicles.

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editor@asiaone.com 

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