Draft 1 - technical report - Proposal for Land Transport Authority(LTA) to curb reckless riders

1. Introduction

This report has been developed to recommend solutions to reduce the rate of accidents caused by e-scooters and Personal Mobility Devices(PMDs) in Singapore.
PMDs was first introduced in Singapore in 2013 as an alternative means of transport to help make public transport a more palatable option for commuters. (Nim, 2015). However, motorized devices have since then become devices used by adventurous riders to roam around Singapore or food delivers to deliver food. According to Cheng (2019), big companies like McDonald’s and Foodpanda have started using PMDs in their daily operations of food deliveries and have been continuing to do so. Simek (2019) states that the use of electric scooters for deliveries has seen a cut on delivery time. Foodpanda has a fleet of e-scooters and the company decided to recruit workers to deliver orders using the scooters. This has seen a rise in the usage of e-scooters and PMDs in Singapore.
Due to the increasing trend of owning a PMD, many people jump on the bandwagon and start to modify their motorised devices. These modified motorized devices are considered illegal and are non-compliant to the prescribed specifications. According to Abdullah (2019), the number of offenses relating to the use of PMDs has increased even as a slew of initiatives were taken to minimize their errant use. Most of the detected offenses were due to riding of unregistered motorized devices on roads. 
With an increase in illegal motorized devices, there is an increase in cases of accidents involving PMDs. According to Toh and Teh (2019), a 65-year-old cyclist was killed in a collision accident with a non-compliant e-scooter that was not registered under Land Transport Authority(LTA) and the scooter’s weight, width and speed limit all exceeded the prescribed specifications allowed for usage in public paths. Another article by Chia (2019) states that an elderly cyclist was killed by a 20-year-old e-scooter rider. She also mentioned that the e-scooter was illegally modified and that it could hit speeds of up to 80km/h which would be as fast as a car on an expressway.
In a recent news report, Cynthia Chew (2019) states that over the past 3 years, PMD related accidents surged up from 47 in 2017 to 87 in 2018 and 79 in the first 9 months of 2019,  including 6 fatal accidents. Most of the fatal accidents were caused by illegally modified or non-compliant scooter. The increasing amount of accidents relating to motorized devices has aroused commotion regarding the safety of pedestrians on the streets in Singapore. Govindasamy (2019) states that he was afraid to use the footpath with his child in tow while on holiday here. According to Tan (2019), many people are now walking on the streets in fear and it is a psychological burden wrongfully imposed on pedestrians.
Addressing the issue of increasing incidents caused by illegal motorized devices is crucial as it affects pedestrians psychologically and physically. Therefore actions should be taken by LTA to implement more regulations to ensure Singapore is free from illegal motorized devices and the users uses the devices safely. This will help Singapore advance towards the ideal situation of having zero injuries or fatal accidents relating to motorized vehicles so that pedestrians can confidently walk on the streets.
1.1 Problem Statement
A safe country like Singapore should be free from accidents relating to motorized vehicles and pedestrians must be able to walk confidently on the streets. However, reports have seen an increase in accidents relating to motorized vehicles causing deaths and injuries, causing fear to pedestrians while walking on the streets. Land Transport Authority (LTA) should implement more regulations on top of the existing ones to ensure safe usage of motorized vehicles so that accidents relating to motorized vehicles will decrease and pedestrians will be able to walk confidently on the streets.
1.2. Purpose Statement
The aim of this proposal is to convince LTA to implement more regulations to resolve the increasing rate of accidents relating to motorized vehicles in Singapore.
References:
Kok, Y. (2019, October 3). ‘Ban PMDs from footpaths so we can feel safe again’: Accident victims and pedestrians. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/ban-pmds-footpaths-so-we-can-feel-safe-again-accident-victims-and-pedestrians.
Chia, R. G. (2019, October 10). ‘I want to walk freely’: 69,000 people have signed an old petition against PMDs, after the Government hinted it might ban them. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.sg/i-want-to-walk-freely-69000-people-have-signed-an-old-petition-against-pmds-after-the-government-hinted-it-might-ban-them/.
Wei, T. T., & Teh, C. (2019, September 26). PMD in fatal crash exceeded weight, width limit: LTA. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/pmd-in-fatal-crash-exceeded-weight-width-limit-lta.
Cheng, K. (2016, May 20). Delivery, logistics firms testing out PMDs with mixed results. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/delivery-logistics-firms-testing-out-pmds-mixed-results.
Nim, A. (2018, August 26). Scooting with the times. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/cars/scooting-with-the-times.
Abdullah, Z. (2019, September 6). Increase in number of PMD offences in August. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/increase-in-number-of-pmd-offences-in-august.

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