Drink-Driver Who Drove Into 4 Unlucky Pedestrians At Tanjong Pagar Sentenced To Jail

Last Updated on 2019-04-15 , 9:12 am

Here’s another accident on the road, but it’s no mundane motorist vs cyclist event this time.

It’s drunk driver vs pedestrians so this is going to be a heavy one.

And one that should never have happened in the first place.

What Happened

The accident happened sometime back, at the evening peak hour on 7 December 2017 at Tanjong Pagar Road.

Lim Kwong Fei was an insurance agent on his way to his office for an event, after consuming at least three cans of beer and a glass of red wine on a private yacht.

This apparently really screwed up his judgement and motor skills, because boy did he go on a rampage.

As he was driving along Tanjong Pagar Road, according to Channel NewsAsia, he “suddenly swerved his vehicle to the right and mounted the central divider”.

He proceeded to crash into a traffic sign as well as four pedestrians on the central divider.

And that’s not all.

The influence of alcohol was apparently so strong that this didn’t faze Lim at all.

He got his vehicle off the divider, onto the other side of the road, where he, according to Deputy Public Prosecutor Jarret Huang, “continued driving his vehicle at some speed off the centre divider, onto the other side of the road… for about a further 20m, albeit against the flow of traffic.”

And he didn’t just drive, eye witnesses reported that he zig-zagged down the road, which truly shows his coordination levels at that moment.

He uprooted another traffic sign, fortunately missing a little girl but went on to ram into a lorry and finally a taxi, before coming to a stop.

 

The Damage

It is extensive and comprises two groups of people.

Pedestrians

The four pedestrians consisted of a father and daughter, an Australian tourist and a Myanmar national.

The father, 57 years old, was admitted for intensive care after suffering brain injuries that resulted in bleeding and fractures. He was unable to perform basic tasks like going to the toilet or feeding himself.

His daughter, 24, suffered lacerations, abrasions and “very substantial psychiatric difficulties” following the accident.

The Myanmar national, 30, lost consciousness after being flung off the central divider, and sustained brain injuries and multiple fractures including a broken nose.

The Australian tourist, 41, had come to Singapore to celebrate his birthday. He ended up fracturing his sacrum, a bone between the hip bones of the pelvis, preventing him from walking or feeding himself while admitted. Till today, he suffers from a weakness in his back that only allows him to undertake light work.

Motorists

The taxi and lorry driver also sustained injuries, and the former racked up a cost of $13,400 to repair his vehicle while the latter, $3,456.

All in all, it’s a bad day for everyone involved, some more than others.

Guilty or not?

Well, of course in the court of law, our drunk driver, Lim, is guilty.

In fact, on Monday (1 April 2019), he was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail and banned from driving for five years, His charges include drink driving, being incapable of having proper control of his car, injuring the pedestrians and driving against the flow of traffic.

But in the ethical sense, was he actually remorseful? The answer is actually kind of grey.

Case 1: Level of intoxication

The thing is his blood alcohol levels were quite low, at 31ug when recorded at the traffic police headquarters. This does not even exceed the 35ug limit. Perhaps he didn’t even realise how screwed his facilities were until he rammed 4 people and 2 vehicles.

Which is, er, a bit too late.

But it explains why he felt okay enough to drive in the first place. That and his “relatively good traffic record” are signs that this really isn’t usual behaviour for him.

Case 2: Hiding the truth

Actually, according to Channel NewsAsia Lim first lied about having drunk before he drove, and he confessed “only after his wife’s statement to the police refuted his lie”.

Is this damning? I don’t know.

Case 3: Compensation

In fact, he did. According to Channel NewsAsia, he has “made full restitution to the drivers of the taxi and lorry for the damage to their vehicles”. That’s $17,000 covered.

But what about for the ones who received serious bodily harm?

Apparently, he did attempt to but he was “surrounded by an angry mob which was shouting at him aggressively and yelling at him to stay away from the victims”. But hey, again, he did try.

Conclusion

The four pedestrians who sustained such serious injuries may have to live with certain impediments for the rest of their life, and all because of a moment of lost judgement by a driver high on alcohol.

As the judge said: “The best policy is, if you drink, don’t drive and if you drive, don’t drink… It’s better to be safe than sorry.”