SINGAPORE: A man took to social media in dismay after talking to the customer service of Grab, whom they felt failed to take their complaint seriously and prevent a possible mishap from occurring with other passengers.
u/TheBigM72 wrote on Reddit Singapore on Nov 10 (Friday) that he and his wife had been on the way to the airport in a vehicle they had booked from Grab. Unfortunately, the driver seemed very tired. “His eyes kept closing, at least 3 times actually closed but multiple times almost there,” the man wrote. To show how tired the driver was, the man wrote that the Grab driver had veered out of the lane but fortunately managed to steer the car in the right direction in the nick of time; otherwise, the vehicle would have struck a barrier.
Read also: What to do when you feel super sleepy at work?
“He also showed low situational awareness almost hitting car when he wanted to move one lane to left and car two lanes to the left wanted to move right one lane,” added the Reddit user, who appeared to believe that he and his wife considered themselves fortunate to have made it to the airport in one piece.
Upon getting there, they “immediately contacted Grab, making sure to have live chat with support, to beg them to block him from accepting another ride for few hours until he gets some sleep”, wrote u/TheBigM72.
The passengers called Grab with no desire for the driver to be penalized but to ensure that he would not take another passenger before getting enough sleep for safety reasons.
He was, therefore, disappointed with Grab’s response, saying: “CS just talked about, oh we will give him a strike for misconduct. We will educate him for next time etc etc. We told them we were not interested in punishment but it was urgent safety situation that he doesn’t take another fare before sleeping. But they didn’t get it.”
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Grab for further comment or update.
Sleepy drivers are a hazard to themselves and others, and driving while not getting enough sleep is considered to be very dangerous as it impairs judgment and slows down reaction time. “The exact prevalence is not known in Singapore. Sleepiness-related crashes is an under-recognised problem and may be categorised as fatigue and inattention,” says Singhealth.com.
The best thing a sleepy driver can do is simply stop driving, pull over to the side of the street and then call someone else to come and drive your car. The driver should get enough sleep before retaking the wheel. /TISG