A video showing a speeding Personal Mobility Device (PMD) crashing into a toddler at a HDB void deck is going viral on social media and messaging platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram.
The video, which appears to be captured by a surveillance camera installed at the void deck, shows that the incident occurred on Sunday (6 Oct). In the video, a group of ladies can be seen chatting near a pillar at a HDB void deck. A little girl can be seen wandering behind the pillar before a speeding PMD user crashes into her.
The impact of the collision, which was marked with a loud crash, caused the PMD user to fly off the e-scooter. The three ladies who were nearby rushed to aid the little girl, who was heard crying loudly.
The child’s father, Facebook user Garnell Glenn Bernard, said that the PMD user was travelling at a speed of 17km/hour when he crashed into his three-year-old daughter, who sustained minor injuries. He wrote:
“The incident happen (sic) on Sunday 6 oct 2019 at 2030 this pmd guy who is clearly wrong and driving the e scooter at the corridor and he claim to drive at the speed of 17km/h it’s clearly wrong that he is riding at that speed on the corridor/ void deck and the second my daughter who is 3 years old was playing on my corridor he dash (sic) across and hit my baby daughter.”
He added, “to everyone who is reading this text is (sic) pmds allowed to ride on the pathway or corridor or the void deck? I need everyone to spread this news around as I don’t want this to happen to anyone else…to everyone that is concern (sic) about my baby she is currently doing alright but the day of the incident she suffers a minor injury on the thigh.”
https://www.facebook.com/allsgstuff/videos/411128769604723/
Last month, People’s Action Party-run Town Councils amended their by-laws to ban PMD riding at the void decks and common corridors of housing estates. PMD riders are now expected to dismount and push their devices at void decks in 15 town councils.
Only personal mobility aids and PMDS that are approved under the Active Mobility Act are exempt from the ban.Those who flout the rules may be fined up to S$5000 and/or taken to court.
Despite the new regulations, accidents involving PMD riders and pedestrians continue to cause concern. On Monday (7 Oct), Senior Minister of State for Transport Janil Puthucheary indicated that the Government would consider banning PMDs completely should the behaviour of riders remain unchanged. -/TISG