Cycling community raises safety concerns over drain gratings
PUB said it had records of 12 verified incidents of injury due to drain gratings from 2012 to 2022, five of which involved cyclists. ST PHOTO: FELINE LIM
Deepanraj Ganesan
SEP 24, 2022
SINGAPORE – It is the third most popular sport and physical activity in the country after walking and jogging, and according to the Government’s Open Data Portal, the percentage of the population that took up cycling to stay active rose from 5 per cent in 2019 to 13 per cent last year.
With many cyclists out and about every day, safety is a priority, and a recent negligence suit brought by a cyclist against PUB over an incident involving a drain grating has set the community talking.
In early September, Myanmar national Maung Maung Aung Soe Thu, 42,
accepted a settlement offer by PUB after he suffered serious injuries when the front wheel of his bicycle got caught in a 3cm gap of a drain grating in Changi Point Coastal Walk on Jan 16 last year.
Mr Francis Chu, co-founder of Love Cycling SG – which has more than 30,000 members on social media today, up from 3,000 in the first year in 2010 – said the incident raises an “issue for the authorities to take seriously”, and also serves as a reminder to cyclists to be cautious.
He recounted his own experience in 2011 when his front wheel got trapped between a metal drain cover and its concrete opening on a road in Geylang East Central.
The 62-year-old, who is in the design industry, said: “It got trapped after I was forced to the extreme left of the road to keep clear of an oncoming bus. I only had minor injuries even though I was flung onto the road. I was very fortunate.”
In response to queries from The Sunday Times, a spokesman for the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it sets out standards and guidelines for common road elements, including drains, kerbs and pavements, as a reference for road construction.
Said the spokesman: “Once the road is constructed, road elements under the charge and responsibility of respective agencies are handed over to the agencies for the management, repair and maintenance.”
He said that in 2011, in consultation with PUB, the LTA revised the design of on-road drain gratings.
All on-road drain gratings since then run perpendicular to traffic flow.
Meanwhile, a PUB spokesman said its primary consideration is that any new drain grating design must be effective in channelling stormwater away from the road surface.
The spokesman added: “As part of road-raising and drainage upgrading works, PUB will also replace existing drain gratings in accordance with the revised design.”
Mr Maung Maung, who suffered head and spinal injuries as well as facial fractures, had sought damages of at least $578,000 from the national water agency, arguing that PUB had failed to ensure that drain gratings along the road were safe for users.
After one day of trial, he accepted a settlement offer with no admission of liability by PUB. It was agreed the settlement terms would not be made public.
Mr Mark Teng, executive director at legal firm That.Legal LLC, said it is largely unheard of that settlement terms are made public.
Mr Teng said: “Regardless of who the parties involved are and what the settlement sums are, if the agreement between the parties is to keep it confidential, then the law will hold the parties to their agreement.”
In its opening statement on the first day of trial, PUB said it had records of 12 verified incidents of injury due to drain gratings from 2012 to 2022, five of which, including Mr Maung Maung’s case, involved cyclists.
ST understands that the 12 incidents are not representative of all cases here, as some could have been referred to other agencies.
PUB said the probability of a cyclist suffering moderate to serious injury from an accident involving a drain grating was 0.00001 per cent on an annual basis.
It added that the cost of inspecting more than a million gratings and replacing affected ones would be astronomical.
Mr Jeffrey Tan, 61, a director in an industrial waste water treatment company, was a victim in 2013.
He was hospitalised for almost two weeks when the front wheel of his bicycle got trapped in a drain grating in Kampong Ampat, sending him crashing onto the road.
He suffered a broken upper jaw, a broken nose and a cracked chin bone.
He said he was cycling at a “low speed” and yet was flung over when his front wheel got caught.
“I will never forget that day because I almost died... I have a phobia of cycling now,” said Mr Tan.
“This is an issue that has existed for some time, and reading about the latest incident brought back unsavoury memories.”
Mr Joseph Choo, 65, a retiree, suffered bruises on his face and a chipped tooth after his bicycle wheel got trapped in a drain grating in 2018 in Robinson Road.
He has since made it a point to report any drain grating he feels poses a danger on the OneService mobile app.
The app, launched by the Municipal Services Office in 2015, allows residents to report various community issues including those involving facilities in HDB estates, pests, public parks, roads and footpaths.
Mr Choo called for a systematic inspection of all drain gratings.
He said: “There are more cyclists on the road nowadays than ever before. I hope the authorities can address this issue.
“Yes, I know it can be costly but not doing anything is unacceptable.”
