Lorry driver jailed for crash that killed four workers
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 plenty of time to get to his destination and despite the stretch of road being in darkness because of an underground cable fault.
He slammed his lorry into the back of a parked trailer. Three of his passengers, Bangladeshi nationals aged 25 to 34, died instantly; a fourth, an Indian national aged 30, died six hours later in hospital.
He and the remaining five passengers were injured.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Leong Wing Tuck said Ramaiah left his Toh Guan Road East office with the nine men for Keppel Fels on Gul Road at about 3am that day; they were to report for work at 4.30am.
Parked on the road was a prime mover, loaded with a consignment of concrete piling equipment. Its driver was sleeping in the vehicle, waiting for daybreak to make his delivery.
Along came Ramaiah, to whom the prime mover appeared to be crawling along the road. He turned on his right-turn signal to overtake the prime mover, but as he filtered to the right, an oncoming vehicle flashed its high beam at him. He immediately swerved left, hitting the right rear of the prime mover, said the DPP.
The impact crushed the front cabin of the lorry, and the eight workers seated at the back were flung forward.
DPP Leong said Ramaiah should have slowed down along the dark road, especially since he had passengers on board.
Ramaiah, who has been out of a job since, said he felt 'bad and truly remorseful' in the last two years for having caused death and injury to his friends.
He added that because he had to stay on in Singapore during investigations into the crash, he could not make it home for the funeral of his father, who died a week after the accident.
He could have been jailed up to five years and fined.
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 plenty of time to get to his destination and despite the stretch of road being in darkness because of an underground cable fault.
He slammed his lorry into the back of a parked trailer. Three of his passengers, Bangladeshi nationals aged 25 to 34, died instantly; a fourth, an Indian national aged 30, died six hours later in hospital.
He and the remaining five passengers were injured.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Leong Wing Tuck said Ramaiah left his Toh Guan Road East office with the nine men for Keppel Fels on Gul Road at about 3am that day; they were to report for work at 4.30am.
Parked on the road was a prime mover, loaded with a consignment of concrete piling equipment. Its driver was sleeping in the vehicle, waiting for daybreak to make his delivery.
Along came Ramaiah, to whom the prime mover appeared to be crawling along the road. He turned on his right-turn signal to overtake the prime mover, but as he filtered to the right, an oncoming vehicle flashed its high beam at him. He immediately swerved left, hitting the right rear of the prime mover, said the DPP.
The impact crushed the front cabin of the lorry, and the eight workers seated at the back were flung forward.
DPP Leong said Ramaiah should have slowed down along the dark road, especially since he had passengers on board.
Ramaiah, who has been out of a job since, said he felt 'bad and truly remorseful' in the last two years for having caused death and injury to his friends.
He added that because he had to stay on in Singapore during investigations into the crash, he could not make it home for the funeral of his father, who died a week after the accident.
He could have been jailed up to five years and fined.
It seems completely a drivers fault, there was no hurry still he speed up the vehicle and a result was death of four workers without a reason.
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