SINGAPORE – When Traffic Police (TP) Inspector Mohamed Yazid Mohamed Yusoff arrived at the scene of a road accident in Tampines in 2020, his heart sank. Lying among the debris were the toys of a five-year-old girl and her kick scooter, which was, coincidentally, similar to the one his son, also aged five, has.
The only differences were that the girl’s scooter was pink, and it was covered in blood.
His worst fears were confirmed when he learnt she had died.
Singapore’s roads are now at their most dangerous in years, with traffic deaths hitting a 10-year high of 149 in 2025, compared with 141 in 2016.
Insp Yazid, who spent six years at TP’s fatal accident investigation team, said: “It was heartbreaking to see her parents crying in hospital. I thought, if that had been my child, I don’t know how I’d react.”
Now officer-in-charge of the general investigation team, Insp Yazid told The Straits Times in March about the fatal road traffic accidents that impacted him while he was investigating them.
The girl died when the van her grandfather was driving collided with several cars before hitting a barricade.
She had been sitting at the back with her grandmother, who died less than a week later.
A five-year-old girl and her grandmother died following a road accident in Tampines in 2020.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
The grandfather was fined $8,000 and disqualified from driving for eight years for driving without due care and attention, causing death.
Insp Yazid said the victims usually sat in the front. But that day, the girl wanted to sit with her kick scooter at the back.
“Had they sat in front, they probably would be alive today,” said Insp Yazid.
The image of the bloodied kick scooter is seared in his mind. “I can imagine her hugging the scooter when the accident happened. When I returned home that night and saw my son’s kick scooter, I was really affected. The grandfather lost his wife and granddaughter. And the girl’s father lost his mother and daughter.”
He said the toughest part of his job is breaking the news to a victim’s family that their loved one had died.
