Tampines fatal accident: Driver to be charged on April 25 (2024)

SINGAPORE – A car driver allegedly involved in a fatal six-vehicle crash in Tampines on April 22 will be handed four charges on April 25.

The 42-year-old man was arrested on April 24 after he was discharged from hospital, the police said.

His driving licence has also been suspended with immediate effect.

He will be charged with dangerous driving causing death; dangerous driving causing hurt; dangerous driving; and failing to stop after an accident.

Investigations are ongoing for other potential driving offences.

If convicted of dangerous driving causing death, he can be jailed for between two and eight years and disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles. Anyone convicted of dangerous driving causing hurt can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to $10,000, or both.

Those found guilty of dangerous driving can be jailed for up to 12 months, fined up to $5,000, or both. Those found guilty of failing to stop after an accident can be jailed for up to three months, or fined up to $1,000, or both.

The accident occurred at the junction of Tampines Avenue 1 and Tampines Avenue 4 and involved four cars, a van and a minibus. The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force were alerted at about 7.05am that day.

The accident killed Madam Norzihan Juwahib, 57, and Afifah Munirah Muhammad Azril, 17, who were both buried at Choa Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery on April 23.

Madam Norzihan, a passenger in the van, was on her way to work when the collision happened. The right side of the van she was in was badly dented after the accident.

Afifah, a first-year student at Temasek Junior College, was a car passenger on her way to a school event.

Her father, Mr Muhammad Azril, a Police Coast Guard officer, was driving their car when the impact from the collision caused it to turn turtle with its doors flung open. He suffered kidney- and spine-related injuries and is still in hospital.

Five other people, including two 11-year-old boys, were also taken to hospital.

Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugamand Senior Minister Teo Chee Heantook to Facebook on April 23 to offer condolences to the victims’ families.

Mr Shanmugam said it was heartbreaking that the accident had cut down two lives “just like that”.

“When we drive – we hold the lives of other road users in our hands,” he added.

Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Saktiandi Supaat said in a post on Facebook on April 24 that he received feedback from residents about road safety concerns, given the recent number of multi-vehicle accidents.

“There is also growing concern about the adequacy of existing penalties for reckless driving,” he said.

To address this, Mr Saktiandi said he filed and raised several parliamentary questions on April 23 to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Home Affairs for the upcoming Parliament sitting on May 7.

He said: “I strongly believe that meaningful changes must be made to minimise such accidents, whether through revisiting and enhancing current mitigating measures or implementing stricter enforcement to deter dangerous behaviour and protect law-abiding motorists and pedestrians alike.”

Traffic accidents claimed the lives of 136 people in 2023, a 25.9 per cent jump from the 108 deaths in 2022, according to the Traffic Police’s (TP) annual statistics report released on Feb 20. The TP said then that there was a significant increase in the number of accidents caused by failure on the part of motorists to keep a proper lookout, failure to have proper control of the vehicle, or changing of lanes without due care.

It added: “The traffic statistics show that there are many motorists who have irresponsible driving behaviours.”

To tackle this, the TP will be increasing the composition sums – the sum of money paid to settle an offence without going to court – and demerit points for certain traffic offences.

TP Commander and Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Daniel Tan had said: “We are naturally concerned with the increase in road fatalities over the past two years.

“(Thus), TP is going to enhance our enforcement methods. We will be rolling out the speed enforcement function in our red-light cameras, starting from next quarter. We will come down hard on road users who blatantly disregard the law.”