Humans Aren't Cargo

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 15 March 2011. Lorry drivers caught breaking safety rules By ROYSTON SIM Straits Times, Mar 15, 2011 Photo caption: All light lorries must have canopies and higher side railings installed if they are used to transport workers under a new rule which took effect on Feb 1. -- ST FILE PHOTO ALMOST two light lorries a day on average were found to be flouting rules ensuring passenger safety last month. Since Feb 1, all light lorries used to transport workers must be fitted with canopies and higher side railings. According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), 47 lorries - without canopies - and another five - without higher side railings - were flagged down last month. Lorry owners caught for non-compliance can be charged in court and face a fine of up to $1,000 or a maximum jail term of three months for a first offence. Repeat offenders face a fine of up to $2,000 or jail of up to six months. The Government brought forward the dea...

The following article was published in the Straits Times on 2 March 2011. Lorry driver jailed for crash that killed four workers By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent Straits Times, Mar 2, 2011 BECAUSE of an act of rashness committed by the driver of a lorry, four people are dead. Yesterday, nearly two years after that crash on a pitch-dark road, driver Ramaiah Raja, 32, was jailed 21/2 years and banned from driving for 15 years. District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim described the case as one of the worst instances of a rash act, although she said she was aware that Ramaiah did not intend for it to happen. Two other charges - that of causing grievous hurt and causing hurt through rashness - were considered during the Indian national's sentencing. Ramaiah, then a marine trades worker ferrying nine of his colleagues from Hi-Tech NDT Inspection Services to Keppel Fels shipyard in his lorry, had blazed down Gul Road at 87kmh at about 4am on May 18, 2009. He was speeding despite there being ple...

The following article was published in TODAY on 2 March 2011. Driver's rash act killed four Man jailed 30 months, disqualified for 15 years by Shaffiq Alkhatib TODAY, Mar 02, 2011 SINGAPORE - A lorry driver was yesterday jailed 30 months for a traffic accident which killed four people and which was described by the judge as one of the worst involving a rash act. District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim also disqualified Ramaiah Raja, 32, from driving all classes of vehicles for 15 years. He was speeding in his lorry along Gul Road in Tuas at around 4am on May 18, 2009, when the accident took place. Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Leong Wing Tuck said the lorry was travelling at around 87kmh, when the speed limit was only 50kmh. Ramaiah, an Indian national, had tried to overtake a stationary prime mover carrying concrete piling equipment shortly before the crash, said DPP Leong. The prime mover driver had parked his vehicle at the left side of the road and was asleep in the cabin. Ramaiah, who...