Woman says dog died after Mercedes-Benz driver refused to give way to pet ambulance

SINGAPORE:  A grieving pet owner has revealed that her beloved pet has passed after a Mercedes-Benz refused to give way to the pet ambulance carrying the animal.

She also claimed that the driver even braked after the ambulance honked its horn the second time, which slowed down the ambulance even more. The delay, she claims, led to the dog’s death inside the ambulance.

A 29-second video of the incident was posted on the social media pages of SG Road Vigilante on June 26 (Wednesday). It showed a white van coming close to a black Mercedes-Benz while driving speedily.

The vehicle from the Royal Animal Rescue is marked as an emergency ambulance on its side, and on the back of the van, there’s a sign that says “KEEP CLEAR. EMERGENCY VEHICLE.”

Despite close tailgating from the van, the Mercedes-Benz does not slow down and let it pass and appears to even slow down toward the end of the video. The incident is said to have occurred on Tuesday (June 25) along the East Coast Parkway.

The caption, which tags the Facebook accounts of the Land Transport Authority – We Keep Your World Moving and the Singapore Police Force, claims that the van is allowed to drive at 70km/h.

It had been tailgating and flashing lights at drivers to give way on the rightmost lane of the expressway. The dog had had a medical emergency and the van was en route to bring it to a 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital.

Seeing that the van’s lights were blinking, drivers of other vehicles on the road had obligingly given way, the post author wrote, adding “yet this driver refused to give way and the MOST RIDICULOUS ACTION BY THIS DRIVER by stepping the emergency break ( to teach us a lesson for horning him?) after the 2nd horns from the ambulance driver.”

She added that the ambulance driver continued to honk the horn, but the driver of the Mercedes-Benz still refused to let the van pass. She questioned whether his behaviour was because it was a dog, and not a person, in the van.

An “animal is also a living thing,” she added, “It’s a life.”

“Despite many honks from the vet ambulance, the self-entitled BM driver play punk by braking instead of giving way. Just because is not a human ambulance?”

Many netizens commenting on the post on Facebook and YouTube condemned the driver of the Mercedes-Benz for their lack of compassion, adding that letting the van go by was they least they could have done.  /TISG

Read also: All You Need to Know About Pet Insurance in Singapore