Car Slams Into Man and Young Girl at Pedestrian Crossing in Bukit Batok

Road accidents can happen anywhere, anytime, and most importantly, to anyone.

Even if you looked right, looked left, looked right again, and even raised your hand up while crossing the road like they told you to do in primary school.

Even in a super safe country like Singapore, where all of us like to believe that nothing bad could ever happen to us.

No matter how safe you try to be, you can’t predict when an accident is going to happen.

Car Hits Man and Girl Crossing The Road

A 61-year-old man and a young girl were crossing a road junction in Bukit Batok, when a car came out of nowhere and hit them, sending the man flying and knocking them both onto the ground.

A dashcam video shows that the man bore most of the impact, as he hit his body onto the windscreen of the car before falling to the ground below.

The girl was knocked to the ground as well, and she immediately got up and rushed over to the man’s side upon seeing what had happened to him.

She can be heard crying loudly in the video.

According to The Straits Times, the police said that the accident occurred at the junction of Bukit Batok East Avenue 6 and Bukit Batok Street 23 at 5.34pm on Thursday (Sept 5).

The victims were hit by a white car that was making a discretionary right turn.

Yep, yet another accident involving a discretionary right turn. What’s new, right?

Man Was Taken To The Hospital

After the accident took place, a passer-by in black immediately rushed to the aid of the man and the young girl.

The driver, meanwhile, stopped the car and opened the door but took a little while more to get out of the vehicle and help the victims.

The man was conscious when he was taken to the National University Hospital.

Several netizens who have commented on the incident have said that it was certainly fortunate that the young girl wasn’t the one who suffered most of the impact.

Many have also expressed their annoyance at the driver, saying that an accident like this would not have happened in broad daylight if the driver had been paying attention.

Discretionary Right Turns

After two major accidents involving discretionary right turns last year, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that it would remove discretionary right turns at most traffic junctions by 2023.

MP Lim Sun Sun has since urged the LTA to shorten this timeline to prevent more accidents and fatalities from occurring.

“Discretionary right turn junctions are fundamentally problematic,” she said.

“Drivers wait anxiously in the right turn box and make a dash for it when they note the absence of oncoming traffic, overlooking the fact that there could also be pedestrians crossing at the same time.”

Hopefully, something is done about it soon so that such accidents will be less frequent.

Even though this was (clearly) the driver’s fault, it’s still important to always take note of your surroundings when crossing the road. Make sure you remember to look right, look left, and look right again before crossing.

Yes, even if it’s a green light.