Driver's rash act killed four
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 had nine foreign workers in the lorry, was filtering to the right when he spotted another vehicle coming towards him from the opposite direction.
He swerved the lorry to the left and it hit the rear of a trailer attached to the prime mover.
The force of the collision crushed the lorry's front cabin and eight workers seated at the rear were flung forward.
Three, all Bangladeshis, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The fourth passenger, an Indian national, was sent to the National University Hospital.
He was pronounced dead there about six hours later.
Ramaiah, who escaped with cuts to his cheek and chin, pleaded guilty yesterday to one charge of committing a rash act.
Two other charges of causing hurt and grievous hurt to the surviving passengers were taken into consideration.
He could have been jailed up to five years, fined or both for the rash act.
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 had nine foreign workers in the lorry, was filtering to the right when he spotted another vehicle coming towards him from the opposite direction.
He swerved the lorry to the left and it hit the rear of a trailer attached to the prime mover.
The force of the collision crushed the lorry's front cabin and eight workers seated at the rear were flung forward.
Three, all Bangladeshis, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The fourth passenger, an Indian national, was sent to the National University Hospital.
He was pronounced dead there about six hours later.
Ramaiah, who escaped with cuts to his cheek and chin, pleaded guilty yesterday to one charge of committing a rash act.
Two other charges of causing hurt and grievous hurt to the surviving passengers were taken into consideration.
He could have been jailed up to five years, fined or both for the rash act.
It seems that lorry drivers are getting one of the main cause of accidents, training should be provided to them so that such accidents are reduced to some extent.
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