SINGAPORE: A minibus driver was jailed for six months on Monday (Dec 23) for careless driving that caused the death of a 63-year-old pedestrian in Jurong.
Tan Choon Sia, 64, was also banned from driving for eight years from the date of his release.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of causing death by driving without reasonable consideration for other users on the road.
The court heard that at the time of the accident, Tan had worked as a driver for about 36 years and had been driving his minibus for around a decade.
At about 9.50am on Aug 12, 2023, he was driving his minibus out of an open-air car park opposite Block 473, Jurong West Street 41.
He drove down the car park service road and was going to turn right onto Jurong West Street 41 at the non-signalised T-junction of the car park exit.
When Tan reached the junction, he made the right turn without stopping to look for pedestrians.
At this time, the victim, Ms Mumtaj Bee Shahul Hameed, was crossing the junction from the car park side to the opposite side.
Ms Mumtaj was in the path of the minibus when Tan turned right, but Tan did not see her.
When he saw her and braked, she was right in front of him and there was insufficient braking distance. The minibus hit her forcefully and knocked her to the ground.
An ambulance arrived minutes later and Ms Mumtaj received emergency treatment. She was drowsy and could not communicate.
She was taken to the hospital, where she was observed to have bleeding in the brain and skull fractures.
She received surgery, but her condition worsened and she died at 6pm the next day from head injuries.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin sought five to seven months’ jail and the mandatory eight-year driving ban for Tan.
He said that while Tan did not display dangerous behaviour, such as speeding or swerving, the driver was “extremely careless”.
Tan “utterly failed” to look out for pedestrians when turning, even though Ms Mumtaj was crossing slowly and could be seen in the dash camera when he was still on the car park service road.
“Any motorist paying the barest attention to the road ahead of them would have been able to stop in time,” Mr Tung said.
Ms Mumtaj was not jaywalking nor negligent in any way that contributed to the accident. “She was fully entitled to cross the road where she did,” the prosecutor said.
The nearest pedestrian crossing was about 100m away from the accident location. Pedestrians are only required to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing if there is one within 50m.
He added that Tan was fined for beating red light signals in 2011 and 2015, although he noted these offences were dated.
Tan’s defence lawyer Mr Tang Gee Ni said his client had been driving for a living for over 40 years, since 1980.
Tan’s record was “relatively clean” for someone on the road almost daily, and this was the first accident he had been involved in, the lawyer said.
However, the judge noted that these were neutral factors at best, and not reasons to lighten Tan’s sentence.
The penalty for careless driving that causes death is a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to S$10,000 (US$7,300) or both.
The offender must also be disqualified from holding all classes of driving licences for eight years from release.
