Former cabby jailed seven days and banned over fatal accident
Published Nov 9, 2015, 12:18 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
SINGAPORE - A former taxi driver was jailed for seven days and banned from driving for five years for causing the death of a man at a pedestrian crossing.
Yeo Eng Kiap, 54, pleaded guilty to negligently causing the death of Mr Choo Ah Soo alias Choo Tong Seng, 68, at the junction of Pearl's Hill Terrace and New Bridge Road on Feb 23 this year.
He failed to keep a proper lookout while making a right turn onto New Bridge Road that morning and hit Mr Choo who was crossing New Bridge Road at the signalised pedestrian crossing.
Mr Choo died two days later in hospital from multiple injuries.
A district court heard that Yeo had picked up a passenger at Pearl's Hill Terrace and was directed to go to International Plaza.
When he reached the junction of Pearl's Hill Terrace and Eu Tong Sen Street, he saw that the traffic light was green in his favour.
He was driving on the left of the two-lane road across the junction towards the centre divider.
As he bypassed the centre divider and approached the junction of Pearl's Hill Terrace and New Bridge Road, he began to switch from the left to the right lane, and prepared to make a right turn.
At this point, the red man was displayed on the traffic light at the pedestrian crossing on New Bridge Road. A large group of pedestrians were still crossing the road from Yeo's right to his left.
A lorry on his left which was ahead had stopped to allow the pedestrians to cross. Mr Choo was then walking across unhurriedly.
Yeo slowed down as he approached the junction but did not come to a stop. As he began to turn right, he looked to his right and assumed that the road ahead was clear. He made the right turn and his vehicle struck Mr Choo.
He could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined for causing death by doing a negligent act.
