Cyclist collides with visually impaired pedestrian and guide dog, sparks social media outrage

SINGAPORE: A video of a visually impaired person and his guide dog colliding with a cyclist on a narrow sidewalk stirs social media.

The incident was captured on video and reposted by the Facebook group Beh Chia Lor. The footage shows a cyclist riding in the opposite direction from the visually impaired person. Instead of giving way to the person or dismounting, the cyclist continued and hit the person with his bicycle.

Although the impact did not cause the person to suffer a fall, the collision caused concern for the guide dog, as can be seen at the end of the video.

The Beh Chia Lor page administrator said, “Cyclist refuses to give way to visually impaired pedestrian with guide dog, and hits into him. Pedestrian urges graciousness and understanding from Singaporeans on shared paths.”

The video has sparked heated debate among netizens, most condemning the cyclist’s disrespectful behaviour. Some even called for the police to get involved, as they believed the cyclist’s actions constituted intentional harm to others.

However, a minority of netizens felt that both parties were to blame, as the sidewalks were too narrow.

In response to some comments, the page admins clarified that the visually impaired person in the video is completely blind and must rely on guide dogs for guidance. They said in a comment:

“For those asking, the pedestrian has 100% blindness disability (sic) and has to rely on the guide dog for walking. Whereas we’re quite sure the cyclist is not blind although he sure acts like it.”