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Food Delivery Rider Injured After a Driver Opened His Car Door in a Hurry

2022-02-07 , 2:56 pm

When a man was in a hurry to find a toilet to resolve his physiological needs, he stopped his car by the roadside and opened his car door, except the door accidentally collided with a female food delivery rider who was riding past on her bicycle, which resulted in three bone fractures.

The accident occurred on 26 November last year, at around 7:55pm, near Block 676A of Yishun Ring Road.

Details of the Accident

According to the case details, the 52-year-old man, Ou Taiqi, suddenly felt the need to go to the toilet while he was driving.

He casually stopped his car by the roadside, and when he was preparing to get off the car after switching off the engine, he didn’t pay attention to the road condition, which led to the car door slamming into Ms Cheng Xiaoping, who was cycling past on the right back then.

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Three Bone Fractures and More Than One Month of Recovery

The 49-year-old woman was sent to the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital by ambulance, where she was diagnosed with fractures in the bones of her right wrist, tibial plateau (below the knee), and fibula.

The hospital gave her 47 days of medical leave.

When Lianhe Zhaobao’s reporters interviewed Ms Cheng Xiaoping, she recalled that she felt “dizzy” after suffering from the impact and she could barely recall most of the details.

She only remembered the other party asking her “why she was so careless”, and that there were passers-by who carried her to the lobby of the nearby building as they waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Ms Cheng added, “I was in a lot of pain then, and I tried to hold on, but after seeing my son rush over, I lost all my strength immediately. When I woke up again, I was already lying in the ambulance.”

She also expressed that she had to stay in the hospital for 10 days after the surgery and she couldn’t work for more than a month. Her family only consists of her and her son who is currently studying.

She is the only breadwinner in the house, which meant that she didn’t have any income for that whole month because of the accident.

“However, I got through those days no matter how difficult they were. I’m still delivering food now, and I still need to go for rehabilitation every month. During my recuperation period, I received a lot of help from my close friends, which made me very optimistic and forward-looking.”

Due to his negligent behaviour which inflicted heavy injuries on his victim, Ou Taiqi was fined $3,000 after the lawsuit concluded.

Just Changed Jobs to Food Delivery

The 49-year-old food deliverer frankly admitted to the fact that she still has a psychological shadow whenever she sees a car, especially given that the accident happened shortly after she changed her job.

Ms Cheng also mentioned that she used to be a private-hire driver. She had only been working as a food deliverer for more than a month and then the accident happened.

Although she has recovered from her leg injury, she still faces a bit of impediment. Hence, she changed her bicycle to a Personal Mobility Aid (PMA) Electric Scooter, which is less strenuous on her muscles.

Because of the traffic rules for electric scooters, Ms Cheng has to ride her electric scooter on the road with the cars.

She admits that she still feels lingering fears whenever she sees the cars, because she would be placed in great danger if another accident occurs.

Food Delivered Despite the Accident

Furthermore, Cheng Xiaoping disclosed that since the accident happened as she was delivering the food, she had contacted the other party to come downstairs to collect the food instead after she was met with the accident.

Talk about dedication, if it wasn’t such a serious situation, I would honestly say she deserves an extra tip and a five-star review.

Her customer stayed with her the whole time until the ambulance arrived, and there was another kind-hearted person who kept talking to her to ensure that she remained conscious.

When Ms Cheng was asked if she would ever forgive the driver, she stated that she was no longer as physically active as she was in the past because of the accident, and she can only envy the people who are free to exercise however they pleased.

But with all that has transpired, nothing will change even if the driver apologised to her.

Words won’t heal the irreversible damage that has already been done.

Even now, she bears a scar that runs down her knee.