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SINGAPORE – Just hours after an overnight flight to New Zealand in 2017, a young Singaporean couple rented a caravan and left.
But less than three hours later, Chin Tze Hau, 38, and his wife, Ms. Ong See Yee, 29, were killed in a head-on collision with another vehicle on a highway.
“The (New Zealand) police considered that Mr Chin may have been fatigued and was driving inadvertently or having a micro-dream at the time of the accident,” said New Zealand coroner Anna Tutton in her updated report released on last month.
“Ms. Ong and Mr. Chin were advised to sleep well after a long flight. The dangers of driving while fatigued are evident in their deaths,” he added, based on his finding last October.
The couple died instantly on State Highway 1 near Bankside, about 25 miles south of Christchurch, on May 4, 2017, due to very high-energy impact injuries to the head and upper body.
The truck driver suffered an arm injury.
Mr. Chin and Ms. Ong had arrived at Christchurch airport around 8:30 am that day on a flight from Singapore that had taken just under 10 hours.
Two hours after arriving, around 10:30 a.m., they rented the caravan and set out on the road.
At approximately 1 in the afternoon, the vehicle driven by Mr. Chin went off the road and, when he tried to bring it back, it rolled onto its side and collided with the approaching “ute”, a utility vehicle similar to a pickup truck.
The New Zealand Transportation Agency (NZTA) has warned that the only cure for fatigue is to stop and get a good night’s sleep, Coroner Tutton said.
Other telltale signs of fatigue identified by NZTA include trouble concentrating, keeping the eyes open or lifting the head, daydreaming, distracted or disconnected thoughts, or memory loss.
Other warning signs include repeatedly yawning or rubbing your eyes, straying out of the assigned lane, following closely, and feeling restless and irritable.
“When it is not practical to stop overnight, a break every two hours, or every 100 km, should be incorporated into the journey,” the coroner said in his report, citing the NZTA.
An order under the New Zealand Forensic Law prohibited the publication of photographs of Ms. Ong and Mr. Chin taken by the New Zealand police, “in the interests of decency and personal privacy”.
A report in The Straits Times at the time of the tragedy said the couple had been married for six years and flew to New Zealand for a 10-day trip to mark Ms Ong’s 29th birthday.
Mr. Chin Tze Hau was then spelled Chen Zhi Hao in the report.
Both husband and wife worked for an audiovisual products company in Kaki Bukit, where Mr. Chin was a technical director and Ms. Ong, an operations executive.
Mr. Chin was described as an adventurer and someone who loved to travel, while Ms. Ong was said to be calm and a good friend.
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