Bus driver jailed for killing pedestrian
[video=youtube;WZIwjTaibG0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZIwjTaibG0[/video]
Published 2 hours ago
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
A bus driver who struck and killed a pedestrian while making a right turn at a T-junction was jailed for 10 weeks yesterday.
A court heard how 65-year-old Tan Soon Meng had not been keeping a proper lookout as the lights turned green, allowing him to turn into Toh Tuck Avenue.
He ran over 29-year-old Winny Pratiwi, who fell to the ground.
The permanent resident from Indonesia, who worked as an assistant manager at World Scientific Publishing, was pronounced dead by a paramedic who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident on March 10.
Tan, then employed by SBS Transit, claimed he did not see any pedestrians at the T-junction of Toh Tuck Link and Toh Tuck Avenue.
The accident was captured on video footage from a nearby taxi as well as the in-vehicle cameras within the bus.
It showed that Ms Pratiwi had crossed beyond the centre divider of the pedestrian crossing before the collision.
The bus continued to move along Toh Tuck Avenue, swerving to the left. It stopped after its front tyre mounted the left road kerb.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur said there was "simply no excuse" for Tan not to have noticed Ms Pratiwi crossing from his right to the left.
The maximum penalty for causing death through a negligent act is two years' jail and a fine.
