Taxi Driver Jailed for Knocking Down Teen in Zebra Crossing As He Was Focused on the Display Terminal

By
Ashley Seek
-
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One should always remain focused while driving.

Not doing so could cause danger to not only you but others around the road as well.

While in some cases only your vehicle gets damaged and you get penalised, sometimes more serious accidents can occur.

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Such as almost killing somebody.

Taxi Driver Jailed for Knocking Down Teen in Zebra Crossing

On 1 Dec, 64-year-old taxi driver Eu Hock Leng was sentenced to three months of jail and banned from driving for two years.

He was approaching a zebra crossing and decided to check his mobile display terminal as he got a notification about a booking.

This caused him to crash into an 18-year-old student, who was in the middle of taking her A-levels.

She sustained a grievous injury, including skull and brain injuries and by extension, impairments in her language functions and hearing.

Eu could’ve been fined up to S$10,000 and jailed for a maximum of four years for the act. He could’ve also been banned from driving forever.

So, what happened?

Details Of The Crash

The incident occurred back on 17 Nov 2017.

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Eu reportedly was working a night shift, which started at 5pm.

Around 7.30pm, he was driving in Bukit Batok West and was approaching a zebra crossing at slightly over 20km/h.

He then saw from his mobile display terminal in his cab that showed there was a booking.

Eu began to access the terminal while he was driving and did not notice the elevated zebra crossing.

This caused the cab to mount the zebra crossing and hit the girl who was almost on the other side of the road.

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She was knocked onto the taxi’s bonnet and then flung onto the road.

A passer-by came to the victim’s aid, calling 995 after scolding Eu for his carelessness.

The victim was reportedly crying, vomiting and going to faint.

A friend of her got notified of the collision and rushed down, and also confronted Eu. Eu told the friend that he picked up a call and did not see the victim.

Victim Suffered Immensely

While the victim did survive and was warded for 15 days, she suffered a lot of injuries.

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This included multiple contusions on her brain, bruising on her head, a fracture of her skull and some loss of smell.

In a review on January 2018, her condition was improving and her sense of smell was slowly improving.

However, she developed mild impairment in high language functions, deficits in complex working memory and multitasking.

And despite recovering from the complications of acute traumatic brain injury, she might still develop related conditions from those injuries next time.

The victim also had to undergo physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy for motor dysfunction and cognitive impairment.

She could not complete her A-levels and experienced many negative emotions after the ordeal, such as feeling disabled for having to rely on her family.

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All of this because someone didn’t look straight ahead.

Featured Image: Phasut Waraphisit / Shutterstock.com

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Ashley Seek
[email protected]