SINGAPORE – When a boy just hit by a bus arrived at the hospital in 2024 with head injuries, medical staff quickly reduced the pressure in his brain before operating on him.

The 12-year-old had been cycling and was not wearing a helmet. He suffered a skull fracture and a brain haemorrhage.

He arrived at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital’s (KKH) emergency department, where staff stopped the bleeding.

Worryingly, a KKH emergency doctor who treated the boy says she sees injured children from road traffic accidents every day.

Traffic deaths hit a 10-year high in 2025, with 149 people killed, compared with 141 in 2016. There were 142 deaths in 2024. The number of people injured has also risen – from 9,342 in 2024 to 9,955 in 2025.

Given the dire situation on Singapore’s roads, The Straits Times has been running a series of stories calling on all road users to be more careful.

Data from the National Trauma Registry shows that only 9.9 per cent of child cyclists and 28.1 per cent of adult cyclists were wearing helmets when road traffic accidents occurred.

The mortality rate for cyclists with helmets is 1.9 per cent, compared with 5.3 per cent for those without helmets.