If you’ve paid attention while on the road, you’d notice clear height limits on overhead bridges restricting passage to taller vehicles. Unfortunately, such a sign wasn’t enough to prevent an accident along Balestier Road this morning (4 Jun).
Though the damage appears to be rather significant, no serious casualties were reported.
According to The Straits Times (ST), the driver of a truck belonging to Gim Sen Transportation Services was passing through Balestier Road at 10.30am this morning (4 Jun).
The 37-year-old was en route to Lavender Street when the crane on his vehicle struck an overhead bridge.
The impact reportedly damaged the crane and caused it to fall onto the road, blocking 3 entire lanes there.
Facebook user Patrick Tan who was at the scene captured several photos of the aftermath.
As a result of the blockage, the road had to be closed to clear the area. ST reported that this lasted a while, as the Land Transport Authority (LTA) only confirmed the reopening of all lanes after 2pm.
In response to queries from MS News, SCDF confirmed that they were alerted to a traffic accident at about 10.30am along Balestier Road.
Here’s their statement in full:
On 4 June 2021 at about 10.30am, SCDF was alerted to a road traffic accident along Balestier Road. SCDF assessed one person for minor injuries and the person subsequently refused conveyance to the hospital.
It’s unclear if the person is the driver or someone else.
While the SCDF reported no other casualties, the truck driver was apparently arrested, notes ST.
The grounds for his arrest are uncertain, though ST mentions that operating a heavy motor vehicle exceeding 4.5m in height without a police escort is illegal in Singapore.
An official from Gim Sen Transportation Services is allegedly assisting the driver with his case. The representative told ST that the driver has had years of experience on the road here, though he has only been with the company for 3 months.
While such accidents aren’t common, we sincerely hope that they won’t happen again in the future.
There may be no serious casualties now, but we won’t be able to guarantee that always.
We also hope that the police and the driver’s company will be able to get to the bottom of the matter and find out what may have caused it.
In the meantime, we wish the injured person a smooth recovery.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
The injured are believed to be an e-hailing driver & his passenger.
The driver eventually filed a report against the passengers.
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More details regarding the opening will be released in due time.
It is unclear why the car entered the wrong lane.
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