STOMPer Kals says he was travelling with his mother on bus service 195 when the driver stepped on the brakes suddenly at a junction, causing his mother to fall.
The STOMPer recounts the incident:
"On Aug 31, I was travelling with my mum on bus 195 from Alexandra Ikea going towards Commonwealth MRT Station. as we boarded the bus we sat on the last seat and my mom sat on the centre of the last seat. |
"Once we boarded the bus we realised that the bus driver was speeding throughout the journey.
"We were nearing the junction heading towards Commonwealth MRT station when we noticed that there was a stationary car as the traffic light had turned yellow and the bus driver was trying to beat the traffic light.
"Unfortunately he could not and he had to put on the brakes suddenly, knocking the car in front and my mom who was seated at the back seat was flung in front due the impact of the sudden brake.
"As it had happened so suddenly, she lost control and couldn't grip on to the pole. She fell and injured her hip.
"Kudos to a kind Civil Defence officer and a young lady, who assisted us by calling the ambulance and the police.
"The bus driver who was a foreigner had a tough time communicating with us as we are non-Chinese.
"He didn't take the initiative to call the ambulance.
"He was busy asking around if anyone could speak mandarin.
"Thanks to some good Samaritans the ambulance came on time and we manage to rush her to the hospital.
"With the recent price hike in transport, the safety of passengers are definitely not guaranteed.
"We believe that this is not the only incident where a driver was driving recklessly.
"We hope that the bus company will look into this matter seriously as this incident had caused a lot of pain and agony to my mum. In short, why is there a need for the driver to rush in the first place at the expense of the passengers safety?"
The issue right now that needs to be addressed is: Why did the bus driver speed? For what I read, this could have been avoided if the speed limit was observed.
The next issue that needs to be addressed is the inability of the driver to communicate with and assist the non mandarin speaking victim and stomper.
Was he not trained on the basics of what needs to be done in an emergency?
Why is he on the road if otherwise?
This is dangerous for every party on the road.
I hope SBS does something about this as soon as possible and WITHOUT raising our fares as they seem to be doing in order to justify their raising costs to avoid major inconveniences.
Stomper, I hope your mother gets well as soon as possible and you are properly compensated for all the grievances caused by their 'well trained foreign talent'.