It is Saturday night. Cars are inching their way out of the packed basement carpark at The Esplanade. There are polite waves and even some smiles, as drivers give way and take turns to exit.

Perhaps they have had a pleasant night out at the concert hall, or an enjoyable dinner, putting them in a "what's-the-hurry, life-is- good" frame of mind. Perhaps it is social pressure - no one wants to be a boor when others are behaving.

Whatever the reason, it is good while it lasts. Once you emerge on Connaught Drive and hit the main roads and highways, reality bites, and you are back in

the drive-hard-or-be-driven-aside world of Singapore roads.

The reality is grim: Singaporeans are being killed and injured on our roads day in and day out, and the numbers are rising.
In 2005, there were 6,706 accidents and injuries on our roads, in which 173 people died.

In 2006, this rose to 7,499 incidents, and 190 deaths.

Last year, it went up again to 8,323 accidents, killing 219.

That means one accident almost every hour each day, with one person dying on our streets every other day.

Singapore has one of the worst road-fatality records among developed countries. In 2005, there were 2.3 deaths for every 10,000 vehicles here, compared with 0.8 in Japan, 1.2 in Australia and 1.8 in the United States. In 2006, it rose to 2.4 deaths for every 10,000 vehicles.

Sadly, the trends look set to get worse, with the growing number of cars and people on the roads.

Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong challenged employers to lower the number of deaths from accidents at the workplace, from 2.5 per 100,000 workers by 2015, to 1.8 within a decade.

This is well and good. But perhaps a similar goal should be set for Singapore's road safety authorities and road users, given that many lives are also being lost on the way to and from work, not just once people get there.

To be fair, the police and the courts have been getting tough. Enforcement has been stepped up and stiffer sentences have been handed down to wilfully dangerous drivers.

In March, for example, a judge sentenced contractor Tan Ser Tong, 55, to 18 months in jail and banned him from driving for three years, for a crash in 2006. Previously, reckless motorists were slapped on the wrist with fines of between $1,000 and $3,000.

Tan's crime? He was caught weaving through traffic along Sixth Avenue towards Holland Road. He drove across the centre divider and ran into an oncoming car.

He did not stop there. He continued to drive against the flow of traffic and smashed head-on into another car, causing his and the second vehicle to burst into flames.

Tan pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and failing to render aid to someone he had injured. He had five previous traffic-related convictions, including drink driving.

His reaction? Tan's lawyer said his client was "shocked" by the sentence.

The judge noted then that tough action was needed as the number of driving offences had risen 14 per cent to about 150,400 last year. Some 24,000 summonses were issued against drivers beating the red light last year, an 86 per cent increase from 2006.

Now, I am not one for proposing draconian measures simply to sound macho. But, as I see it, road safety is one of those things that philosophers term "other regarding liberties". In other words, each person's right to safe streets is impinged on by how others use the roads.

Societies therefore are right to adopt an "abuse it and lose it" approach towards those who cannot, or will not, take responsibility to ensure that they do not endanger others and compromise road safety for all.

Five types of anti-social behaviour will have to be driven off our roads if Singapore is to make a dent in the increasing toll of death and destruction on them, namely:

F1 wannabes: One in three fatal accidents last year was the result of speeding. To stop people turning the streets into F1 circuits, sensible speed limits will have to be set and enforced, with more speed cameras if need be. In addition, cameras might also be used to deter those who swerve in and out of lanes wildly - you've encountered them, those impatient idiots trying to rush ahead of everyone else, only to have to stop at the next traffic light.

Highway hoggers: These "my way on the highway" types are the other extreme. They deliberately hog the outermost lane, driving needlessly slow, holding up traffic. Some motorcyclists fall into this category too, as do people who will not give way to ambulances.

Getting motorists to stay in the appropriate lane, driving at sensible speeds, as well as keeping a safe distance from others, will help cut the number of expressway accidents.

Last year, there were 498 accidents on the Pan-Island Expressway, 217 on the Ayer Rajah Expressway and 201 on the Central Expressway (CTE). Scores of people died or were injured in these accidents, and many man-hours were lost as a result of the traffic congestion caused.

Like many other users of the CTE, I find the highway both a boon and a bane. The journey from my home in Seletar Hills to the Straits Times newsroom in Braddell Road usually takes no more than 10 minutes. On some days though, an accident turns the expressway ride into a crawl, and the same journey can take anything from 20 to 40 minutes.

No amount of road pricing charges, expressway expansions or diversions will ease the perennial CTE jams unless more motorists start using the highways more sensibly.

One proposal: set up a police hotline for road users to SMS pictures of road hoggers and dangerous drivers.

Young daredevils: Young drivers are more prone - or wont? - to having accidents. Some of them tend to speed or drive recklessly to show off, or just can't refrain from taking to the wheel after hitting the pubs.

The result: In 2006, one in five of the 250 drivers injured in accidents - and one in three of the 29 killed - was under 30, a piteous waste of such youthful lives.

For those young drivers who will not heed the relentless warnings from the authorities against reckless or drink driving, perhaps it is best to keep it simple: Adopt a "three plus three" rule - commit a major traffic offence within three years of getting your licence, and you can take the next three to "grow up" and get responsible before being allowed on the roads.

Cost cutters: These include employers who transport workers in dangerously cramped trucks and lorries, without covered tops or seat belts. Last year, 184 of these passengers were injured and two died in accidents. In the same league are school bus drivers who claim they cannot provide seat belts because it will raise costs.

Yes, indeed it will. But accidents and injuries, not to mention deaths, are costly too, although someone else - parents and families, employers, the state and society - ends up footing the bill.

Seat-belt shirkers: They "forget" to buckle up or "cheat" by installing devices to silence onboard reminders to do so.

Others put children on their laps while in the front seat. Such actions are as foolish as the results are devastating, as several recent accidents have shown.

Apart from stepping up enforcement, perhaps the authorities can take a leaf from fast-food chain McDonald's. If parents won't belt up, teach their children the importance of doing so, and get them to speak up and badger their parents to do so.

Ultimately, having more campaigns, heightened enforcement or tougher penalties can only go so far. The roads will get safer only if more of us who use them bear in mind that reckless driving can, and does, kill.

So, please, the next time you take to the road, remember this: One person, on average, will get injured on our roads within the hour, and one will die today or tomorrow. Be careful.

This article was first published in The Sunday Times on May 4, 2008.