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SINGAPORE: A taxi driver behind the wheel in a collision that killed a National University of Singapore (NUS) student was awarded 65 percent responsibility for his negligence in the case, a higher court judge ruled in a lawsuit civil on Friday (October 2). .
The other driver, who was going straight and accelerating before colliding with the taxi driver who turned right at his discretion, was assigned 35% responsibility.
Judge Aedit Abdullah ruled that the plaintiff, a surviving passenger who was accused by the defendants’ lawyers of not wearing a seat belt, had no responsibility. Damages to be paid will be assessed at a later date.
24-year-old Ting Jun Heng sued 56-year-old taxi driver Yap Kok Hua and 23-year-old driver Ng Li Ning in a case that came to court in June, for an accident in April 2018. The cab and suffered multiple injuries.
Mr. Ting, then a freshman college student, was in the Yap taxi with three friends, Ms. Kathy Ong, Mr. Zon Lim, and Mr. Lim Jin Jie, on their way to NUS La Tembusu College. night of April 19, two years ago.
At the junction of Commonwealth Avenue West and Clementi Road, Yap made a discretionary right turn as Ng’s vehicle was approaching from the opposite direction at high speed.
The accident threw Ms. Ong partially out of the window and she died in hospital at the age of 19, while Mr. Ting suffered injuries, including a traumatic brain injury.
He was initially in a vegetative state, but recovered and suffered broken ribs, a kidney laceration, and multiple pelvic bone fractures. He suffered medical complications, postponed his studies and now walks with a slight limp.
Judge Aedit said that the greatest degree of responsibility lay with Yap, the taxi driver, who was turning while Ng was going straight.
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Yap had been convicted of criminal charges in the case, sentenced to eight weeks in jail last year and banned from driving for five years. Ng also faces a criminal charge, which is still pending in state courts.
It was Yap’s job to maintain proper surveillance, Judge Aedit said. If you had any doubts about whether it was safe to continue, you should have waited for oncoming traffic to clear.
The judge also found that Ng had traveled between 74 and 87 km / h, with an average speed of 82 km / h. Ng did not argue during the trial that he had been speeding up.
Even if Ng had the right of way, it does not relieve him of the need to exercise due care, Judge Aedit said, saying that drivers traveling in a straight line should not move forward as if other drivers ahead of them were unable to get in the way. on their way.
While the defendants had argued that the plaintiff was not wearing a seatbelt at the time, the judge determined that he had no responsibility in the case.
Mr. Ting had testified that it was his customary practice to wear a seat belt, and the judge found no reason to decide that he had not.
Even if Yap’s statement of facts in his guilty plea indicated that the passengers were not wearing seat belts, this had little effect against Mr. Ting, as he was not a party to those criminal proceedings and was not convicted of any crime, said the judge.
It gave all parties time to submit costs before appeals were made. This will be followed by a pre-trial conference regarding the amount of damages.
Ng will return to state court on October 9 for a pre-trial conference on his criminal charge, and is charged with driving dangerously over the speed limit.
