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SINGAPORE \u2013 A lorry driver who drove with an improperly stowed crane arm struck the underside of Toa Payoh North Flyover while driving. <\/p>\n
He had earlier tampered with the vehicle\u2019s height audio warning system (HWS), preventing it from working properly.<\/p>\n
On Dec 2, the driver, Kurusamy Nagarajan, 42, an Indian national, was fined $8,000 after he pleaded guilty to one count each of tampering with the HWS and causing a vehicle to hit a structure. <\/p>\n
He was also prohibited from driving any motor vehicles in Singapore for a period of six months from Dec 2.<\/p>\n
The accident happened on June 27.<\/p>\n
The Land Transport Authority\u2019s prosecutor Chan Arne told the court that landscaping firm TTK Services was the vehicle\u2019s registered owner from March 9, 2023.<\/p>\n
Kurusamy, who was driving a lorry that was equipped with a mechanical crane arm, had disconnected a wire connected to the vehicle\u2019s HWS, preventing the device from working properly.<\/p>\n
Court documents stated that the HWS would produce a continuous audio warning when the vehicle\u2019s lorry crane was not properly stowed.<\/p>\n
Kurusamy, who started working as a driver for the company in 2016, had been assigned to the vehicle, which passed an inspection on March 7, 2025, with its HWS in a good working condition.<\/p>\n
On June 27, TTK Services told Kurusamy to drive the vehicle to Lorong 8 Toa Payoh and load pruned tree branches onto its load deck. <\/p>\n
The prosecutor said that the lorry crane could not be properly stowed as there were many tree branches loaded onto the vehicle. As a result, the HWS produced a continuous audio warning.<\/p>\n
Instead of addressing the issue, Kurusamy disconnected a wire fitted to the device\u2019s buzzer compartment to stop the sound. <\/p>\n
The improperly stowed lorry crane later struck the underside of Toa Payoh North Flyover shortly after 5pm that day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n