Three cheers for speed limit enforcement!

Please, please do enforce the speed limits more strictly! This may be an unpopular view, but as a regular bicycle commuter on the roads here in Singapore I am looking forward to much stricter enforcement of the speed limits by the Traffic Police!

Park connectors are all very well but many of us need to cycle on the road and in my opinion one of the most dangerous and unpleasant things about Singapore's roads is the high-speed traffic. Traffic speeds are a key factor in the risk and severity of crashes, especially when they involve pedestrians or cyclists.

So I am happy that there are signs (literally) that stricter enforcement of speed limits is coming soon. I notice that speed limit signs are appearing all over the place. These are the result of a nationwide review of speed limits.

This review came about after motorist complaints when the Traffic Police started to use mobile speed cameras about a year ago to catch speeding motorists on ordinary arterials, such as Upper Bukit Timah Rd (see a series of Straits Times Forum letters in early February 2005). This led to complaints that the speed limits were too low and that they were not clearly sign-posted.

I would have preferred many of the old 50km/h speed limits to remain. But at least, since motorists' complaints having now been addressed, I hope the Traffic Police will soon be strictly enforcing the new speed limits. I also hope that they do so on all roads with speeding problems, and not just a short list of main roads.

I also hope that the needs of cyclists are taken into account in any speed limit reviews.