SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to 27 months’ jail on Monday (Dec 22) for driving at speeds of up to double the speed limit and crashing into a lorry ferrying migrant workers .
Tan Wei Feng, 33, was also banned from driving for the minimally required period of eight years.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving that caused grievous hurt to nine victims. All of them were migrant workers riding in the back of a lorry.
Another charge of dangerous driving that caused less severe injuries to three victims – two migrant workers in the driver’s and passenger’s seat of the lorry, and a passenger in Tan’s car – was considered for sentencing.
The accident happened along the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway on Jul 19, 2023 at about 7.45am. The weather was fine and the road was dry at the time.
An eyewitness on a motorcycle behind the lorry saw Tan’s car swerve from the third lane towards the first lane behind him.
Tan’s car then overtook the motorcycle, drove at high speed between the first and second lane and hit the right rear of the lorry.
As a result, the lorry, which was driving in the first lane, spun and hit the side barriers of the road and flipped onto its side.
Some of the victims who were seated in the back of the lorry were thrown out of the vehicle.
The Health Sciences Authority’s speed analysis estimated that Tan was driving at speeds of between 130 kmh and 160 kmh at the time of the collision.
