A former Land Transport Authority (LTA) engineer was sentenced to five months and two weeks’ in jail and fined $800 yesterday, over a hit-and-run accident in June 2016 where he was caught on camera repeatedly intimidating a motorcyclist and pillion rider in a road rampage that lasted a terrifying seven minutes.
The ex-LTA engineer, 65-year-old Ho Loong Chan, was also disqualified from driving for four years. Ho is appealing against his sentence and will be out on bail of $10,000.
Interestingly, Ho was sentenced on the same day another ex-public servant pleaded not guilty to 55 counts of corruption charges.
A CHEQUERED PAST
Ho has a history of reckless driving behaviour, even before this last hit-and-run case that made headlines. Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Andrew Low said in his submissions to the court that Ho has an “alarmingly similar pattern of inconsiderate, even dangerous driving behaviour” and noted that Ho has been in trouble over nine other road-related offences, such as inconsiderate driving, speeding and running the red light that stretch all the way back to 1995.
Describing Ho as a “clear road bully” whose actions were “deplorable,” APP Low said that Ho used his car to “bully, intimidate and eventually cause hurt” to the two victims in the hit-and-run incident and that he “cowardly and irresponsible” for leaving “his victims in a precariously vulnerable position,” after he fled the scene when the motorcyclist collided into other vehicles along the Ayer-Rajah Expressway.
The hit-and-run case went viral after roads.sg posted dashboard camera footage from a vehicle nearby capturing the incident. The video quickly attracted over 300,000 views on social media:
Be on the lookout for Toyota Camry SKA1713J. Driver was caught on camera in a Hit and Run accident earlier today. Further checks online revealed driver to have previous brushes with at least 2 other motorists, with the same habit of intentional jam braking & reckless lane change. #SKA1713JPlease share this video around. Singapore Police Force Credit: Wei Kok, Jimmy, Zufar
Posted by ROADS.sg on Thursday, 16 June 2016
In the video, Ho was occupying the left lane on the two-lane Jurong Town Hall Road while the victims, 29-year-old motorcyclist Muhammad Fazly Rahmat and 27-year-old pillion rider Siti Farina were in the right lane, behind Ho’s car.
When Fazly moved ahead of Ho’s car while he was still in the right lane, Ho switched to the same lane and overtook Fazly without signalling. Fazly moved to the left lane to avoid Ho who followed him. Ho then veered erratically from left to right in a dangerous manner.
Fazly tried to alert Ho by sounding his horn but was ignored. When he caught up to Ho and knocked on his window, Fazly was reportedly met with a hostile look. Fazly’s attempts did not work as Ho kept veering towards him, causing him to nearly hit the kerb. Ho’s rampage continued with him veering into the bike’s path, overtaking it and braking intermittently causing Fazly to nearly crash into his car.
Fazly lost control of his bike and collided into Ho’s vehicle after Ho straddled two lanes while veering towards the motorcyclist and braking. As Fazly and Siti were thrown off the bike, Ho turned tail and fled.
Ho could have been sentenced to a maximum 1 year in prison and/or fined $5000 for his offences.
https://theindependent.sg.sg/car-involved-in-hit-and-run-and-several-other-reckless-driving-spotted-at-traffic-police-hq/
https://theindependent.sg.sg/is-the-driver-of-a-hit-and-run-case-as-employee-of-lta/
https://theindependent.sg.sg/ex-amk-town-council-general-manager-pleads-not-guilty-to-55-counts-of-corruption-charges/