Well, heavy vehicles are in the limelight for the past few months for all the wrong reasons. I would like to hare my experience with you folks. I witnessed an incident. Yes, you guessed it. Involved an SMRT bus.
Today is one of those days where I decided to take public transport to work. I was travelling home on service 985. At around 7:05pm, the bus exited PIE and was on Jalan Anak Bukit. Subsequently, it made a large sweeping turn onto Upper Bulit Timah Road, just before the Shell station. At the same time, a group of pedestrians were waiting for the lights to turn green outside Bukit Timah Plaza to cross over to Ngee Ann Poly. Now if you know that junction well, you will know that the bus had the right of way at the moment. Just when the bus was completing the turn into Upper Bukit Timah Road and picking up speed, an individual dashed out from the group of pedestrians and across the road. I SAW HIM DASHED ACROSS THE ROAD! This individual did not leave my sight until he ran to the front of the bus. Passengers on the bus were screaming for his life! I thought to myself.......... the bus must have creamed him....... and I was bracing myself for that E brake.
Surprisingly, the bus came to a stop relatively gently and I saw him lying on the road next to the bus. He then stood up on his own, hand holding his face and obviously in shock. Several pedestrians helped him to the side of the road, including the bus driver. This is a 5-lane major road at peak hour so he was also endangering the life of his samaritans. The driver then ran back to the bus and told us the service was disrupted. He then pulled the bus over to the side of the road and we alighted. His face was as white as ghost. So were the dozens of pedestrians and passengers who saw the damn thing happened.
I have read about all the major accidents involving heavy vehicles and the stereotypical reaction some folks have about those involved. "He must be speeding. He must have beaten the lights. Ban heavy vehicles from the roads." The list goes on. What I am sharing here is my own first hand experience. It is not always the drivers' fault, I've said this before. In case you folks start questioning about the bus driver's nationality, he spoke decent english with a local accent. You might ask why am I able to remember so much details? That's because the bus could not have been travelling at more than 40km/h at that time.
I will be calling SMRT tomorrow and offer myself as a witness to the incident if necessary.
Food for thought.
Today is one of those days where I decided to take public transport to work. I was travelling home on service 985. At around 7:05pm, the bus exited PIE and was on Jalan Anak Bukit. Subsequently, it made a large sweeping turn onto Upper Bulit Timah Road, just before the Shell station. At the same time, a group of pedestrians were waiting for the lights to turn green outside Bukit Timah Plaza to cross over to Ngee Ann Poly. Now if you know that junction well, you will know that the bus had the right of way at the moment. Just when the bus was completing the turn into Upper Bukit Timah Road and picking up speed, an individual dashed out from the group of pedestrians and across the road. I SAW HIM DASHED ACROSS THE ROAD! This individual did not leave my sight until he ran to the front of the bus. Passengers on the bus were screaming for his life! I thought to myself.......... the bus must have creamed him....... and I was bracing myself for that E brake.
Surprisingly, the bus came to a stop relatively gently and I saw him lying on the road next to the bus. He then stood up on his own, hand holding his face and obviously in shock. Several pedestrians helped him to the side of the road, including the bus driver. This is a 5-lane major road at peak hour so he was also endangering the life of his samaritans. The driver then ran back to the bus and told us the service was disrupted. He then pulled the bus over to the side of the road and we alighted. His face was as white as ghost. So were the dozens of pedestrians and passengers who saw the damn thing happened.
I have read about all the major accidents involving heavy vehicles and the stereotypical reaction some folks have about those involved. "He must be speeding. He must have beaten the lights. Ban heavy vehicles from the roads." The list goes on. What I am sharing here is my own first hand experience. It is not always the drivers' fault, I've said this before. In case you folks start questioning about the bus driver's nationality, he spoke decent english with a local accent. You might ask why am I able to remember so much details? That's because the bus could not have been travelling at more than 40km/h at that time.
I will be calling SMRT tomorrow and offer myself as a witness to the incident if necessary.
Food for thought.