WOODLANDS ACCIDENT - Singapore's Online Community

**Voodoo Vince** · 28-01-2008, 10:13 AM

WOODLANDS ACCIDENT: SHOPKEEPER NARROWLY ESCAPES FLYING CAR
CAR KNOCKS DOWN LAMP POST, SMASHES INTO PILLAR
DRIVER WALKS OUT UNHURT

By Hedy Khoo
January 28, 2008

HE heard the loud screeching of tyres behind him, and turned around. To his horror, he saw a car mount the kerb and come hurtling towards him.

Pictures: Kenneth Koh

Mr S Pramchand, 42, was standing outside his shop at the corner of Block 2A on Woodlands Centre Road, when a van and a car collided at the yellow box junction there.

He managed to get out of the way as the car came crashing into his shop.

The yellow box helps vehicles turning into and out of the carpark of Block 2A.

The car was turning right from the opposite side of Woodlands Centre Road, and the van was going straight when the collision took place.

The car went up the kerb, knocked down a lamp post and its concrete base, leaving a trail of rubble in its wake, and then slammed into a pillar.

BACK FACING THE ROAD
Said Mr Pramchand, the owner of the shop: 'I was standing beside the pillar outside my shop, talking on my handphone, with my back to the road.

Damaged goods: Four racks of clothings are crushed between the car and the pillar. The car's bonnet is crumpled and its number plate falls off.

'Suddenly, I heard the loud screeching of tyres. As I turned around, I heard a series of loud bangs and saw a car mount the kerb, bash down the lamp post and fly towards me.'

He was so frightened that he turned and ran for his life, past the stairway beside his shop, towards the carpark behind.

Mr Pramchand said he heard another loud bang behind him as he ran.

'I went back and saw the driver emerging from his car,' he said. 'It crashed into the pillar where I had been standing at.'

His sister, Miss S Lilaja, 31, was attending to customers at the shop front when the crash occurred.

Said Ms Lilaja, who called The New Paper hotline: 'I saw the car knock down the lamp post and I thought it would crash into our shop through the glass display.

'At that time, there were 10 customers in our shop. I was so frightened, I only managed to shout 'car' and 'move in' to them, and gestured for them to move to safety at the back of the shop.

'When I heard the final bang outside, then silence, I quickly went out to check. My immediate concern was for the driver, and I was relieved to see him uninjured.

Said Mr Pramchand: 'The place looked like the aftermath of an earthquake.

'The car knocked down the lamp post and smashed its concrete base, which was about 1.2m-high, into bits. Amazingly, I did not see any visible damage to the pillar.

'Four racks of apparel were crushed between the car and the pillar, and they probably cushioned the impact.'

Five other racks of clothing were also flung on either side of the car.

He said: 'The damage to my goods is nothing compared to human life. I am just relieved that the driver wasn't injured.

'It is also fortunate that nobody at the coffee shop next to our shop was injured, as it has tables very near the pillar.

'The car could have crashed in that direction as it was swerving left and right when I saw it coming towards me,' he added.

One coffee shop regular, Mr Putiyan Soeri, 43, a forklift driver, said about 20 patrons were eating there when the collision happened.

'Luckily, no one was sitting at the tables next to the pillar,' he said.

'When the car went up the kerb and hit the lamp post, the people at the coffee shop started screaming and ran back. The driver is lucky that he escaped uninjured.'

The car, a black Mitsubishi Lancer, belonged to a 30-year-old driver who gave his name only as Jason, and said he was a senior engineer.

Jason said he lived nearby and after having coffee with a friend, had wanted to go to an ATM at Block 2A to withdraw cash.

'When the collision happened, I tried to brake but lost control of my vehicle,' he said.

'I had my safety belt on and I am lucky I didn't injure anyone.'

Said Jason: 'But at the same time, it is unlucky. Chinese New Year is just round the corner and such an accident happened.

'I needed the car this weekend to help my mother ferry New Year goods.'

The driver of the silver van involved in the collision, Mr Osman Salamon, 42, said he had his family in the car at the time of the accident.

His 34-year-old pregnant wife, and three children, as well as their Indonesian maid, were all in the van.

Mr Salamon said an ambulance, which arrived on the scene, took the maid and his daughters, aged 6 and 11, to the National University Hospital. His 1-year-old son was unhurt.

He later took his wife to the hospital for a check-up.

'My first thought after the collision was my wife as she is due to deliver this month,' he said.

His wife, Madam Hairah Saini, said she had neck strain, while their maid sustained some bruises, and the 6-year-old suffered a mild concussion.

They were all discharged from the hospital by evening.

The police said they had received a call about an accident between a car and a van at Woodlands Centre Road.

The car then skidded and hit a pillar, police said.

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CONGESTION BETTER THAN COLLISIONS
CHANGE Woodlands Centre Road back to a one-way road.

That is the suggestion of Mr S Pramchand, who owns the clothing store at the accident site.

'Woodlands Centre Road used to be safer when it was a one-way traffic road,' he said.

'I have been working here for the past 10years, and I have not seen so many accidents occur at this junction until the traffic became two-way a few years ago.'

He added: 'Nobody has been injured so far, but something should be done before a life is lost.

'It used to be congested when it was a one-way road, but since it has been converted to a two-way road, it has become dangerous.

'For many years, the traffic was one-way and drivers who come here remember it that way, and they get confused now.'

Mr Putiyan Soeri, 43, a coffee shop regular, agrees that the two-way traffic there confuses some drivers.

'In the past month, I have seen four accidents happen at this junction,' he said.

'At the yellow box when people try to make turns from the opposite direction into the carpark, or when turning out from the carpark towards the right, that's when the accidents happen,' said Mr Soeri.

Added Mr Pramchand: 'A one-way road is safer. There is congestion during peak hours, but that is better than collisions at any time.'

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