SINGAPORE — The number of deaths and injuries in accidents involving people ferried on the back of lorries has “generally decreased” since the introduction of more stringent precautions more than a decade ago, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday (May 7).

However, some figures and charts provided by LTA indicated that the total number of deaths involving lorry accidents, and the number of deaths per 1,000 lorries on the road, have been rising in the past couple of years.

The authority was responding to media queries after two recent accidents involving lorries carrying migrant workers left two people dead and more than 20 injured.

In one chart provided by LTA, the number of deaths per 1,000 lorries on the road has been steadily rising since 2018 while the figure for all motor vehicles has been falling.

Another chart showing the total number of deaths involving lorry accidents also shows an increase in recent years.

In 2009 and 2010, the Government rolled out a series of measures to improve the safety of workers ferried on lorries.

These measures included fitting all lorries used to transport workers with canopies and higher side railings, and required workers to be no more than 1.1m above the carriage deck when seated.

“Since then, the number of people on board lorries and who were injured or killed in road traffic accidents has been falling,” LTA said.

In its response, the LTA highlighted average figures, showing a general fall.

The average number of persons injured on board lorries for every 1,000 lorries from 2011 to 2020 is about 8.7, comparable to about 8.6 per 1,000 vehicles for the total motor vehicle population during the same period.

The fatality rate for people on board lorries was nine a year on average from 2011 to 2015, and fell to 2.6 on average per year from 2016 to 2020.

LTA added that around the world, it is "not uncommon" for goods vehicles to be used to carry passengers.

“For example, countries such as Canada, Thailand and the United States of America allow for passengers to be ferried on the rear deck, with varying degrees of safety restrictions,” LTA said.

Mr Alex Yam, Member of Parliament for Marsiling-Yew Tee Group Representation Constituency, has filed a question for the next sitting of Parliament on Monday.

He asked the Ministry of Transport if it would impose additional measures to ensure the safety of migrant workers as they are transported in their employers’ vehicles, such as requiring employers to transport their workers in mini-buses or buses with compulsory seat-belting.

On April 20, a lorry ferrying 17 passengers crashed into a stationary tipper truck along the Pan Island Expressway, in the direction of Changi Airport. One migrant worker died in hospital that day, while another succumbed to his injuries three days later.

The other workers were hurt and taken to hospital.

Four days later, 10 men were taken to hospital after a lorry overturned along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

The accidents have reignited calls to relook the practice of carrying workers on the back of lorries.