Caught on cam: Private hire driver dozes off and crashes

China – ROADS.sg shared on February 22 a footage taken a week before in China of a private hire driver dozing off while on duty and getting into a major accident.

The Facebook group geared towards bringing awareness to road safety in Singapore included a message which said:

“To all taxi and PHV drivers,

Please have enough rest before you start to drive. Do not continue to drive if you are sleepy. There are others who share the road and also want to go home safe.

Think about your family, dad and mom, bros, and sis, wife and kids.

Be rested and stay alert during your drive.”

The 1-minute clip started with the driver clearly looking drunk with sleep. Past the 13-second mark, the passenger seated across him at the back shouted a warning and prepared himself for the impending impact to which the driver snapped out of his drowsiness but was a bit too late. The camera blacks out from the crash but regains its connection to show a shattered windshield and crushed front area of the vehicle. The driver, whose eye and forehead were bleeding, appeared dazed from the encounter. Although it wasn’t evident in the video, the accident also caused damage to third-parties as a few men in uniform were caught attending to something while surrounded by traffic cones that were tipped over. As for the passenger, it is unclear if he sustained any injuries.

In light of the accident, netizens are sharing their experiences as taxi and PHV drivers. With shifts that last 12-14 hours, becoming sleepy on the road is a risk they have to overcome each day. Member of the public Charlie Tang commented on how he only sleeps for a few hours after being on the road for 16 hours just to do it all over again.

Aries Hassan noted that the “sleepy sensation” is common to those in this profession and it is very tough to resist. It “comes like the wind” which becomes dangerous when they are with a passenger and could not easily take a break.

Watch the video here:

https://www.facebook.com/Roads.sg/videos/974332542762946/

The Singapore Police Force has recently released its Annual Road Traffic Situation report for 2018 and states that the road traffic accident situations in the country have remained stable last year. “There were fewer road traffic accidents overall, but the number of fatal accidents increased slightly,” the SPF released. There was a total of 7,690 cases of accidents resulting in injuries and 120 cases of fatal accidents last year. The violations included in the report were speeding-related accidents, drink-driving arrests and accidents, red-light running accidents elderly pedestrians who jaywalk, and accidents involving motorcyclists and pillion riders.

On February 21, 2019, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Sun Xueling, along with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development, launched the “Use Your RoadSense 2019” campaign. It aims to improve awareness and engage the public on road safety concerns. The traffic landscape has changed significantly over the last few years with the emergence of personal mobility devises and power-assisted bicycles. Because of this, “There is a need to promote greater graciousness and responsibility amongst increasingly diverse groups of road users, and help them adjust and adapt to a more complex traffic environment,” said the SPF.

“Over the next three years, TP will engage various groups of road users in a nationwide study of public attitudes towards road use and safety. The findings from this study will help TP track shifts in such attitudes and enable the formulation of further measures to improve RoadSense amongst road users”, the report added.

For those interested in participating in the study, head on over to the following page: https://www.facebook.com/roadsense.sg