Elderly woman was riding PMD during collision with lorry in Toa Payoh
A 73-year-old woman died on Tuesday (7 July) after being involved in an accident with a lorry in Toa Payoh.
Footage of the aftermath shared on Facebook showed the woman lying in the middle of the road with part of her personal mobility device (PMD) a few metres away.
Source: R Sya Gemini on Facebook
Woman lies motionless on road in Toa Payoh
In the clip, the woman lay motionless on her left side between the far-left and centre lanes, with a passer-by checking on her.
Source: R Sya Gemini on Facebook
The seat portion of her PMD was in the centre lane, surrounded by newspaper pages.
A shoe had also been dropped on the road.
Source: R Sya Gemini on Facebook
In a second video shared by the same user, the rear wheels of her PMD were seen on the pavement in front of a pedestrian crossing.
Source: R Sya Gemini on Facebook
Police & ambulance arrive at the scene
Later, someone had placed an umbrella next to the woman to shield her from the sun.
Source: R Sya Gemini on Facebook
Sirens were heard, and an ambulance approached from the other direction.
Source: R Sya Gemini on Facebook
Another Facebook user shared a photo depicting a number of police officers at the scene.
A man in a blue shirt sat on the kerb, his head bowed.
Both halves of the woman’s PMD was still there.
Source: Syifa Mila on Facebook
Woman was flung into the air by the impact
35-year-old Mr Li Bing (transliterated from Mandarin), a car wash attendant working at a nearby petrol kiosk, told Shin Min Daily News that his colleague had witnessed the incident.
He said the woman wearing a white top was flung about 3m or 4m into the air when she was hit. The rear wheels of her PMD were also sent flying.
She lay motionless on the road afterwards, with nobody daring to touch her.
Lorry allegedly beat the red light
Another witness, a 63-year-old driver named only as Mr Lin (transliterated from Mandarin), said he was waiting for the traffic light to turn green when the lorry zoomed past him.
The light had turned red for about 10 seconds, he added.
While only the woman was hit, others were also crossing the road at the time and were shocked to witness the accident.
Numerous pedestrians then rushed forward to assist the elderly woman.
Source: Google Maps
Lorry driver seemed terrified, later arrested by police
As for the lorry, it stopped about 100m away from the scene, with its driver hesitating a long time before getting out of his vehicle.
Mr Li said that the driver, who was wearing a blue uniform, seemed terrified and had tears in his eyes.
Shin Min reporters who arrived at the scene at 11am observed that the driver had been handcuffed and was later taken away by the police.
The lorry was observed to belong to an electronic security company.
Elderly woman passes away in hospital after Toa Payoh accident
In response to queries from MS News, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said it was alerted to the accident at about 10.15am on 7 July.
It took place along Lorong 6 Toa Payoh in the direction of Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, and involved a lorry and a PMD.
A 73-year-old female PMD rider was sent to the hospital in an unconscious state.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which was alerted at the same time, told MS News that she was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
However, she subsequently passed away.
Lorry driver arrested after drug paraphernalia & duty-unpaid cigarettes found
Drug paraphernalia was found in the lorry, leading to the arrest of the 34-year-old lorry driver for dangerous driving causing death and suspected drug-related offences.
Items believed to be duty-unpaid cigarettes were also found on the man, SPF said.
The suspected drug-related offences have been referred to the Central Narcotics Bureau.
The customs-related offences will be referred to Singapore Customs.
Investigations are ongoing.
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Featured image adapted from R Sya Gemini on Facebook and Syifa Mila on Facebook.
