When it comes to driving, we always need to be extra careful, because you never know when your actions can end up causing an accident and cost someone their livelihood.
On 11 October 2019 at around 8pm, Roger Pang Heng Mun, a 76-year-old doctor at The Ming Clinic in Camden Medical Centre, was driving a car along Bukit Batok East Avenue 6 when he stopped at a junction.
As the traffic light turned green, he moved forward into the right turning pocket so that he could make a discretionary turn.
However, as he continued to make the turn, he failed to account for a 21-year-old motorcyclist and his 22-year-old pillion rider who was travelling in the opposite direction along Bukit Batok East Avenue 6, and Pang ended up crashing into them.
Accident Led to Amputation of 3 Toes
After the accident occurred, Pang got out of his vehicle and attended to the two victims – Mr Muhammad Zakir Zakaria and Ms Eisya Nabila Jaini.
Unfortunately, the accident caused Mr Zakir to have three degloved toes and fractures to his right leg.
In case you didn’t know, degloving refers to a situation when the top layers of your skin and tissue are ripped away.
He ended up having to amputate away the affected toes, and after he was discharged on 26 November 2019, he was given 325 days of hospitalisation leave.
Ms Eisya, on the other hand, suffered multiple fractures at various places. One of which was her right shin bone. She was warded in the hospital from 12 to 18 October 2019 and had to undergo surgeries for her injuries.
The Court Hearing
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Goh Yong Ngee said that despite being able to see the motorcycle, Pang “negligently failed to give way” and proceeded to make the discretionary turn. As such, he asked that the court sentence Pang to a jail term of 10 days and disqualify him from driving all classes of vehicles for two years.
Instead of what DPP Goh proposed, defence lawyer Peggy Sarah Yee asked for Pang to be given the maximum fine and a long period of disqualification from driving instead. And if the judge was insistent on giving a jail term, she requested a two-day sentence instead of a longer one.
She noted that his driving record for the past 57 years had been clean, and he did not speed or beat any light. She also revealed that Pang had sold his car following the accident and has not driven a car since.
Later, the court found out that Pang has glaucoma and cataracts, both of which are eye-related conditions that could have caused him to be unable to see things in his peripheral vision clearly.
Pang was also said to have severe obstructive sleep apnoea and can only sleep with the help of a machine every night. This condition is considered to be fatal as the airway can become obstructed when sleeping.
To this, District Judge Marvin Bay said that Pang should have known that there was deterioration in his peripheral vision. He should have also known better to not make the turn especially since his eyesight and his “ability to pick up fast-moving objects, might be compromised”.
Due to all these factors, Pang was ultimately deemed to be negligent. He ended up being given a jail term of four days and a fine of S$5,000 after he pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt to both victims by negligent driving.
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He has also been disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for 10 years.
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