E-bike deaths on West Coast Highway: Surviving cyclist, trailer driver give differing accounts in court
The wake of Ang Yee Fong, who was one of the two youths killed in an accident along West Coast Highway involving a trailer that left their power-assisted bicycles in smithereens. Photo: TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Differing accounts emerged in court on Thursday (Oct 19) during the Coroner’s Inquiry into the deaths of two e-bikers who were killed by a trailer truck on West Coast Highway last October.
While the sole surviving cyclist, 18-year-old Marcus Loke, said the trio had been riding their power-assisted bicycles in single file on the leftmost lane towards Telok Blangah and had not stopped during the journey, the trailer driver testified otherwise.
Mr Sahadevan Senguttuvan, 35, said the trio were abreast of one another on the leftmost lane when he saw them “a certain distance away” on the night of Oct 27 last year.
“Upon seeing them, I decided to move to the lane on the right… (as I) didn’t want to collide with them,” the Indian national said through a Tamil interpreter.
Mr Senguttuvan said two of the cyclists were moving to the right as well, and he had to “move further to other lanes to avoid them”.
His trailer truck came to a stop between the two right lanes of the four-lane road near Pandan Crescent.
The body of one of the victims, 26-year-old Ang Yee Fong, was found lying on the second-left lane, while debris from his bike was on the leftmost lane. The latter showed where the point of impact occurred, said the investigation officer, Senior Staff Sergeant Vilton Hia.
The e-bike of the other victim, 19-year Ong Zi Quan, was found on the second-right lane.
Mr Loke, who was at the front of the group, was flung onto the pavement when the trailer truck hit his bike. He was hospitalised for four days.
Ang was pronounced dead on the spot while Ong succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Mr Loke told the court that he and his friends had gone to Geylang earlier that day to buy LED lights and other accessories for their e-bikes, which they had purchased from online platform Carousell and came with a few illegal modifications.
That night, they were riding from Jurong West to his grandmother’s place in Telok Blangah, and had used the park connector up until Teban Gardens.
Ong was cycling close behind him while Ang was about five metres behind Ong.
Shortly before the accident at around midnight, Mr Loke said he had turned his head to check on traffic behind as he wanted to change lanes to make a right turn to a McDonald’s outlet nearby. He saw his friends behind him. When he turned his head again thirty seconds later, he could no longer spot Ang but saw the trailer approaching Ong.
Mr Loke said he told Ong to move faster in Mandarin. Ong had moved to his right and Mr Loke saw the trailer collide squarely into his friend.
Mr Senguttuvan, whose employer was not mentioned in court, was heading from Penjuru to Keppel Distripark with an empty container when the accident occurred. He had started work at about 7.20am that day and had taken an hour-long nap at about 9pm. He said the road was “quite dim” and he did not notice the bikes were lit.
He had driven the trailer for about 2.5 months and had no mechanical issues with the vehicle. Although a front lamp was broken, he was able to see the road ahead of him.
The inquiry took an intense turn when the victims’ next-of-kin questioned Mr Senguttuvan. Choking back tears, Ong’s mother, Mdm Chen Xuehong, said in Mandarin: “Did our son die in vain? You keep denying this matter. If you had applied the brakes, you would not have caused the death of two people.”
The driver replied: “I didn’t want to harm them, that’s why I went to the right. I didn’t want to cause any loss of lives.”
He had testified earlier that he had not applied the emergency brakes as he was “in a state of panic and didn’t know what to do”. Senior Staff Sergeant Hia also told the court applying emergency brakes when ferrying an empty container may cause it to topple over.
“I apologise to you, Madam…I tried my best,” said Mr Senguttuvan. “I have children too. This was not what I wanted.”
The coroner is expected to deliver his findings on Friday.
