The following article was published in The New Paper on 21 May 2009.
It's the fault of foreign drivers
By Amanda Yong
21 May 2009
The New Paper
Our readers claim these drivers are reckless and cause many accidents
BLAME it on the drivers.
They weave in and out of lanes, ignore traffic rules and have no regard for road safety.
Or so claim an overwhelming majority of readers who called or wrote in reacting to yesterday's report on an accident that killed four foreign workers on Gul Road early Monday morning.
The readers' bone of contention: Foreign drivers - and whether more needs to be done to ensure that they are qualified to drive on Singapore roads.
In the accident, a lorry driven by a foreign worker rammed into a parked trailer. Three of the four who died, along with five others who were injured, were riding in the back of the lorry. The workers - including the driver - were from India and Bangladesh.
The problem lies with foreign drivers at the wheel of lorries transporting their fellow foreign workers, said 23 of 27 readers who e-mailed or called The New Paper yesterday.
Reader Elangovan, 44, a lorry driver for 15 years, disclosed a little-known fact: That all it takes for a foreign worker to qualify to drive in Singapore is to pass the basic theory test. He found out from mixing with foreign drivers at work that many obtain their driving licences in their home countries.
'They don't need to sit for the practical driving test here. So at the end of the day, we don't know whether they actually know how to drive,' he said.
He felt that many drivers from foreign countries are inexperienced. 'When they drive back home, they're reckless. There are no signboards, no regulations, so when they come here they get confused.'
Confirmation with traffic police
A check with the traffic police website confirmed what Mr Elangovan said, at least for drivers of Class 3 and 3A vehicles. This comprises cars with an unladen weight of up to 3,000kg, and motor tractors and other motor vehicles with an unladen weight of up to 2,500kg.
The lorry involved in Monday's accident would fall under this classification.
But a foreigner holding a foreign licence of Class 4 and above is subject to more stringent requirements - he will have to 'go through training and a prescribed practical test... No direct conversion is granted for these heavy vehicle licences', according to the traffic police website.
Another Singaporean lorry driver, Mr S Sundarajan Rajan, called for stronger action against errant drivers.
He said in an e-mail: 'I think it's not really the mode of transport that is the issue, it's the drivers. Either the traffic police have to scrutinise these people before issuing them the licence or not issue them one at all.'
Mr Rehmat Kiwon, 54, a lorry driver with 35 years of experience and who works in the Jurong area, said: 'These drivers are reckless. They never give way and look like they are racing each other. I don't know what they're chasing.'
One reader recalled a close shave a month ago when his car escaped with a bent side mirror after a lorry driven by a foreign worker brushed against his car.
Mr Chia K S, 58, a chauffeur, said: 'The lorry overtook my car without signalling. Luckily I braked in time.'
There were foreign workers at the back of the lorry at the time. Mr Chia said he knew the driver was a foreigner because he took down the man's particulars for claims on his motor insurance.
A dormitory supervisor who gave his name as Mr Ramasamy, 59, is concerned about the lorries ferrying foreign workers, even in the wee hours of the morning, at Tuas where he works.
He said: 'I usually start work at 3am, but I am scared to drive there (to his Tuas workplace) because they (the lorry drivers) always speed. (The authorities) shouldn't give licences to these foreigners.'
Teacher Nur Mawarni, 24, said: 'There needs to be stricter imposition and reinforcement of traffic rules. Maybe more traffic police officers should be deployed to ensure that drivers ferrying workers do not exceed the 60kmh speed limit.
'In the meantime, we need to begin work to better protect these workers rather than wait for more to lose their lives.'
Others said the companies should also be held responsible.
Technician V Ramasamy wrote in an e-mail: '(the company) should... ensure safe transportation for the workers by providing 'safe' drivers.'
But another reader, who only gave his name as bobhairi, said he believed that regardless of road safety rules, 'if the drivers (have) bad attitude on the road, no matter (whether) you take a car, bus or any other (type of transport), accidents will happen.'
He added: 'The Government can make (a) thousand regulations, (but) I believe accidents will happen. It all depends on the drivers...'
Mr Elangovan agreed. 'When I carry 25 people with me, I always tell myself that these people are my responsibility. At the end of the day, even if you don't die, somebody else dies.'
Additional reporting by Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Four Workers Killed as Lorry Crashes into Trailer
The following article was published in the New Paper on 20 May 2009.
MORE DEATHS TO COME AT BACK OF OTHER LORRIES?
Four killed at Tuas as lorry carrying foreign workers crashes into trailer
May 20, 2009
The Electric New Paper
Reproduced photo caption: HORRIFIC: A worker sitting at the back of the lorry was said to have hit against the roof and his blood dripped onto the road. PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Reproduced photo caption: DANGEROUS: Three of the dead workers were at the back of the lorry, stained with blood.
Reproduced photo caption: Grief-stricken foreign workers waiting for news at the hospital.
IN THE worst accident this year, four foreign workers were killed after the lorry they were in crashed into the back of a stationary trailer in Tuas early yesterday.
It was not the first time that lives had been lost in accidents involving lorries carrying foreign workers in the cargo decks.
And yesterday's accident prompted MP Halimah Yacob to call it a tragedy waiting to happen.
Asked to comment by The New Paper, she said there was a need for proper criteria on how foreign workers are transported.
'Four more lives were taken this time.
'How many lives must be lost before we do something to protect these people who come help us and our economy?' she said.
Tragedy
Madam Halimah, who is chairman of the Manpower government parliamentary committee (GPC) and NTUC deputy secretary-general, added: 'The issue of workers' safety has been an age-old debate.
'This is truly a tragedy and we should not delay in taking action anymore.
'This was a tragedy waiting to happen and we need to take this as a turning point to put in place proper criteria about how foreign workers are transported.'
Madam Halimah had said last year that it seemed that workers lives were 'worth less than equipment' after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) refused to ban the transport of foreign workers in lorries.
She added that stringent workplace safety regulations should apply to the transportation of workers as well.
'It doesn't make sense for us to have stringent regulations to protect workers at the workplace, but have no rules to protect their lives when fetching them to and fro,' she said.
One of the four fatalities in yesterday's accident was sitting in the front passenger seat while the other three were with five other workers at the back of the lorry.
Three died on the spot while a fourth man died in hospital.
The driver, Mr Ramaiah Raja, 31, is warded at the National University Hospital with abrasions on his face and arms. Five other survivors were also taken to the hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF was alerted to the accident at Gul Road at 4.05am.
When SCDF personnel arrived with two fire engines, two support vehicles and three ambulances, they found that the front passenger side of the lorry was crushed badly.
They used a hydraulic spreader and cutter and two winches to free the front passenger, who was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Mr Baskar, operations manager of the victims' employer, Hi-tech NDT Inspection Services, said they were marine workers who were travelling from their quarters in Toh Guan Road East to Keppel Shipyard.
'All the workers have been working here for between two and three years. The company will be informing their relatives once we sort out what to do,' he said.
He said three of the dead were from Bangladesh and the other was from India.
Of the workers taken to hospital, two had suffered 'leg strain' and had been discharged, he said. Four men are still in hospital in a stable condition.
Groups of foreign workers milled around at the hospital hoping to see their injured friends. A few shed tears.
One burst into loud wails when approached by reporters. He later composed himself, but kept his head bowed in grief.
Last evening, Mr Baskar said he was relieved when doctors told him that the warded workers could be discharged in a few days.
Exposed & at risk
The issue of safety when transporting workers in open-top lorries has long been debated, with some calling for it to be banned.
A work group, co-chaired by the LTA and Ministry of Manpower, was formed early last year to review this issue.
The president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Mr John Gee, 55, said it had written to the LTA to recommend that foreign workers be transported in enclosed vehicles with seatbelts.
He said: 'Migrant workers should definitely be moved around in buses with safety belts.
'It's bad enough that they're exposed to the weather. In a crash, their likelihood of escaping unscathed is drastically reduced.'
He said the LTA responded by introducing measures to reduce the risk of workers being hurt while transported in lorries - such as handle bars, speed and other structural limits, but stopped short of a ban.
According to LTA rules, vehicles carrying workers cannot travel faster than 60kmh.
A label must also be displayed on the vehicle to indicate the maximum number of workers who can be transported, based on a minimum space requirement per person.
Passengers must also sit in a manner that does not allow them to fall off vehicles easily and not above 3.2m off the ground.
There have been suggestions that seatbelts should be installed in lorries, like schoolbuses now, after an 8-year-old child was flung out of a minibus in an accident last year.
But experts such as Dr Chin Hoong Chor, who specialises in transportation at the National University of Singapore, said doing so might give people 'the wrong impression that a lorry is meant for carrying passengers'.
Madam Halimah acknowledged that using minibuses to transport foreign workers would be more expensive for companies, but she felt the cost would be worth it.
She said: 'Companies will have to pay, but what...can compensate for a life lost?'
Mr Gee said: 'It is sad when we see such an accident takes place. If this goes on, you can be sure that a more serious one is waiting to happen.'
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern. Additional reporting by Amanda Yong.
MORE DEATHS TO COME AT BACK OF OTHER LORRIES?
Four killed at Tuas as lorry carrying foreign workers crashes into trailer
May 20, 2009
The Electric New Paper
Reproduced photo caption: HORRIFIC: A worker sitting at the back of the lorry was said to have hit against the roof and his blood dripped onto the road. PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Reproduced photo caption: DANGEROUS: Three of the dead workers were at the back of the lorry, stained with blood.
Reproduced photo caption: Grief-stricken foreign workers waiting for news at the hospital.IN THE worst accident this year, four foreign workers were killed after the lorry they were in crashed into the back of a stationary trailer in Tuas early yesterday.
It was not the first time that lives had been lost in accidents involving lorries carrying foreign workers in the cargo decks.
And yesterday's accident prompted MP Halimah Yacob to call it a tragedy waiting to happen.
Asked to comment by The New Paper, she said there was a need for proper criteria on how foreign workers are transported.
'Four more lives were taken this time.
'How many lives must be lost before we do something to protect these people who come help us and our economy?' she said.
Tragedy
Madam Halimah, who is chairman of the Manpower government parliamentary committee (GPC) and NTUC deputy secretary-general, added: 'The issue of workers' safety has been an age-old debate.
'This is truly a tragedy and we should not delay in taking action anymore.
'This was a tragedy waiting to happen and we need to take this as a turning point to put in place proper criteria about how foreign workers are transported.'
Madam Halimah had said last year that it seemed that workers lives were 'worth less than equipment' after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) refused to ban the transport of foreign workers in lorries.
She added that stringent workplace safety regulations should apply to the transportation of workers as well.
'It doesn't make sense for us to have stringent regulations to protect workers at the workplace, but have no rules to protect their lives when fetching them to and fro,' she said.
One of the four fatalities in yesterday's accident was sitting in the front passenger seat while the other three were with five other workers at the back of the lorry.
Three died on the spot while a fourth man died in hospital.
The driver, Mr Ramaiah Raja, 31, is warded at the National University Hospital with abrasions on his face and arms. Five other survivors were also taken to the hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF was alerted to the accident at Gul Road at 4.05am.
When SCDF personnel arrived with two fire engines, two support vehicles and three ambulances, they found that the front passenger side of the lorry was crushed badly.
They used a hydraulic spreader and cutter and two winches to free the front passenger, who was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Mr Baskar, operations manager of the victims' employer, Hi-tech NDT Inspection Services, said they were marine workers who were travelling from their quarters in Toh Guan Road East to Keppel Shipyard.
'All the workers have been working here for between two and three years. The company will be informing their relatives once we sort out what to do,' he said.
He said three of the dead were from Bangladesh and the other was from India.
Of the workers taken to hospital, two had suffered 'leg strain' and had been discharged, he said. Four men are still in hospital in a stable condition.
Groups of foreign workers milled around at the hospital hoping to see their injured friends. A few shed tears.
One burst into loud wails when approached by reporters. He later composed himself, but kept his head bowed in grief.
Last evening, Mr Baskar said he was relieved when doctors told him that the warded workers could be discharged in a few days.
Exposed & at risk
The issue of safety when transporting workers in open-top lorries has long been debated, with some calling for it to be banned.
A work group, co-chaired by the LTA and Ministry of Manpower, was formed early last year to review this issue.
The president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Mr John Gee, 55, said it had written to the LTA to recommend that foreign workers be transported in enclosed vehicles with seatbelts.
He said: 'Migrant workers should definitely be moved around in buses with safety belts.
'It's bad enough that they're exposed to the weather. In a crash, their likelihood of escaping unscathed is drastically reduced.'
He said the LTA responded by introducing measures to reduce the risk of workers being hurt while transported in lorries - such as handle bars, speed and other structural limits, but stopped short of a ban.
According to LTA rules, vehicles carrying workers cannot travel faster than 60kmh.
A label must also be displayed on the vehicle to indicate the maximum number of workers who can be transported, based on a minimum space requirement per person.
Passengers must also sit in a manner that does not allow them to fall off vehicles easily and not above 3.2m off the ground.
There have been suggestions that seatbelts should be installed in lorries, like schoolbuses now, after an 8-year-old child was flung out of a minibus in an accident last year.
But experts such as Dr Chin Hoong Chor, who specialises in transportation at the National University of Singapore, said doing so might give people 'the wrong impression that a lorry is meant for carrying passengers'.
Madam Halimah acknowledged that using minibuses to transport foreign workers would be more expensive for companies, but she felt the cost would be worth it.
She said: 'Companies will have to pay, but what...can compensate for a life lost?'
Mr Gee said: 'It is sad when we see such an accident takes place. If this goes on, you can be sure that a more serious one is waiting to happen.'
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern. Additional reporting by Amanda Yong.
It's Time for Change
The following letter was published in TODAY on 20 May 2009.
WORKER TRANSPORT
It’s time for change
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
I REFER to “Tragedy at Gul Road” (May 19) in which four foreign workers died.
Concerns about transporting workers in the backs of lorries have been raised. I understand that the Land Transport Authorities said in March last year that it was setting up a work group with the Ministry of Manpower to review this.
More than a year and about 200 injuries and six deaths later, things do not seem to have changed.
Cost, I believe, is the reason why we need a “work group” to discuss what is obvious should be done.
Yes, it will be more expensive to humanely transport workers. But this is part of our ethical responsibility as a receiving country of foreign labour.
The present practice of transporting such workers is unsafe, inhumane and does not treat people with respect or dignity.
It is disturbing that as a developed nation we allow this. Furthermore, doing so is a safety hazard for other road users.
I would like to urge a ban on the transporting of people in the backs of lorries.
All workers should be seated in buses when being transported.
And I urge the swift implementation of such a ban without the excuse that it would take a long time to make the change at a practical level.
We are efficient in many ways. I am certain we can be efficient in this matter if we recognise how important it is.
We do not need a work group.
We need action and we need it now, before more lives are lost.
Let the deaths of the four workers not be in vain.
It’s time for change
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
I REFER to “Tragedy at Gul Road” (May 19) in which four foreign workers died.
Concerns about transporting workers in the backs of lorries have been raised. I understand that the Land Transport Authorities said in March last year that it was setting up a work group with the Ministry of Manpower to review this.
More than a year and about 200 injuries and six deaths later, things do not seem to have changed.
Cost, I believe, is the reason why we need a “work group” to discuss what is obvious should be done.
Yes, it will be more expensive to humanely transport workers. But this is part of our ethical responsibility as a receiving country of foreign labour.
The present practice of transporting such workers is unsafe, inhumane and does not treat people with respect or dignity.
It is disturbing that as a developed nation we allow this. Furthermore, doing so is a safety hazard for other road users.
I would like to urge a ban on the transporting of people in the backs of lorries.
All workers should be seated in buses when being transported.
And I urge the swift implementation of such a ban without the excuse that it would take a long time to make the change at a practical level.
We are efficient in many ways. I am certain we can be efficient in this matter if we recognise how important it is.
We do not need a work group.
We need action and we need it now, before more lives are lost.
Let the deaths of the four workers not be in vain.
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
The following blog post was published by UK Telegraph reporter, Ben Bland, as part his Asia File series, on 20 May 2009. To access it, click here.
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
By Ben Bland, The Asia File
First thing in the morning and late at night, Singapore's tree-lined highways are full of lorries and trucks carrying a vital cargo: the migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who are the backbone of the Lion City's economic miracle.
Crammed into the rear deck, the only protection they have from the scorching sun and the perpetual downpours is a bit of plastic sheeting. But the weather is the least of their worries.
Before sunrise on Monday morning, four workers from India and Bangladesh set off from their humble quarters for the shipyard where they were employed. But none of them arrived at work after the lorry they were travelling in hit the back of a larger truck parked by the roadside and they were killed in the collision.
One of the victims had been travelling in the front passenger seat but the other three had been sitting in the back of their vehicle. Six others were injured but survived.
The fatal accident has once more brought the shoddy treatment of migrant workers in Singapore to public attention.
While cattle are transported in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, Singapore's construction and shipping workers are afforded no such luxury.
The authorities only stipulate that each worker has at least 0.372 square metres of floor space and that lorries do not carry more people than they are licensed to.
210 people were injured while traveling in the back of lorries in Singapore last year and two killed. 186 were hurt in 2007 and two killed.
So long as unscrupulous companies are allowed to carry people in worse conditions than animals, the deaths and injuries will continue.
The Gulf state of Bahrain, which does not exactly have a reputation as a haven of workers' rights, has introduced a ban on using trucks to transport labourers.
But Singapore seems to have no intention of altering the status quo, largely because of the purported costs to business in a state that is dependent on external trade and investment. (It's obviously cheaper to pay the odd hospital bill and coffin shipping costs than it is to hire a mini-bus.)
It's a pretty despicable situation that reflects a xenophobic attitude to foreign labour. People are happy to milk the economic benefits of cheaply imported workers but are not so willing to accord them rights and respect.
Nimby-ist Singaporeans complain whenever a foreign workers' hostel is built in their vicinity and, according to one earnest writer in the Straits Times today, if migrant labourers were to be given public transport passes instead of being thrown onto the back of trucks, "some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers".
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
By Ben Bland, The Asia File
First thing in the morning and late at night, Singapore's tree-lined highways are full of lorries and trucks carrying a vital cargo: the migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who are the backbone of the Lion City's economic miracle.
Crammed into the rear deck, the only protection they have from the scorching sun and the perpetual downpours is a bit of plastic sheeting. But the weather is the least of their worries.
Before sunrise on Monday morning, four workers from India and Bangladesh set off from their humble quarters for the shipyard where they were employed. But none of them arrived at work after the lorry they were travelling in hit the back of a larger truck parked by the roadside and they were killed in the collision.
One of the victims had been travelling in the front passenger seat but the other three had been sitting in the back of their vehicle. Six others were injured but survived.
The fatal accident has once more brought the shoddy treatment of migrant workers in Singapore to public attention.
While cattle are transported in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, Singapore's construction and shipping workers are afforded no such luxury.
The authorities only stipulate that each worker has at least 0.372 square metres of floor space and that lorries do not carry more people than they are licensed to.
210 people were injured while traveling in the back of lorries in Singapore last year and two killed. 186 were hurt in 2007 and two killed.
So long as unscrupulous companies are allowed to carry people in worse conditions than animals, the deaths and injuries will continue.
The Gulf state of Bahrain, which does not exactly have a reputation as a haven of workers' rights, has introduced a ban on using trucks to transport labourers.
But Singapore seems to have no intention of altering the status quo, largely because of the purported costs to business in a state that is dependent on external trade and investment. (It's obviously cheaper to pay the odd hospital bill and coffin shipping costs than it is to hire a mini-bus.)
It's a pretty despicable situation that reflects a xenophobic attitude to foreign labour. People are happy to milk the economic benefits of cheaply imported workers but are not so willing to accord them rights and respect.
Nimby-ist Singaporeans complain whenever a foreign workers' hostel is built in their vicinity and, according to one earnest writer in the Straits Times today, if migrant labourers were to be given public transport passes instead of being thrown onto the back of trucks, "some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers".
In Favour of Humane Treatment for All Workers
"We have rules for safety belts to be fitted inside cars and worn by passengers but no protective measures like this exist for those who are forced to travel externally on a vehicle. It does not make sense at all in a civilised and developed society that this way of transporting workers is accepted. It is hazardous, and an accident waiting to happen as has been evidenced on many occasions.
These conditions are inhumane. I am in favour of humane treatment and consistent standards for all workers regardless of their class.
I support a ban on such methods of transport which are a common sight on Singapore roads. The sooner the ban can be introduced, the sooner more lives will be saved."
Welfare Officer, 35, Singaporean
These conditions are inhumane. I am in favour of humane treatment and consistent standards for all workers regardless of their class.
I support a ban on such methods of transport which are a common sight on Singapore roads. The sooner the ban can be introduced, the sooner more lives will be saved."
Welfare Officer, 35, Singaporean
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
4 die after lorry hits trailer
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 19 May 2009.
ACCIDENT IN TUAS
4 die after lorry hits trailer
Six others hurt; trailer driver was asleep in parked vehicle at the time
By Teh Joo Lin & Jalelah Abu Baker
May 19, 2009
Reproduced photo caption:The brother-in law (right) of one of the deceased, Pitchaiah Govindaraj, 31, grieving outside the Emergency Department at NUH. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
Reproduced photo caption:Rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter and two winches to free the body of the front-seat passenger. The lorry was ferrying a group of workers to their workplace at a shipyard at the end of Gul Road at the time.-- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
HE HAD stopped his trailer at the side of the road for forty winks, and was just drifting off when the 12m-long vehicle wobbled.
Mr Shukor Ayub thought nothing of it, but seconds later, a man appeared at his window, rapping furiously.
Startled awake, he climbed out, and saw carnage.
A lorry ferrying 10 foreign workers had smashed into the back of his massive 22-wheeler. Four men were killed, six others injured.
'I didn't even realise it until someone came and told me,' said the stunned 30-year-old Malaysian.
The only damage to the trailer was a loose wheel.
ACCIDENT IN TUAS
4 die after lorry hits trailer
Six others hurt; trailer driver was asleep in parked vehicle at the time
By Teh Joo Lin & Jalelah Abu Baker
May 19, 2009
Reproduced photo caption:The brother-in law (right) of one of the deceased, Pitchaiah Govindaraj, 31, grieving outside the Emergency Department at NUH. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
Reproduced photo caption:Rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter and two winches to free the body of the front-seat passenger. The lorry was ferrying a group of workers to their workplace at a shipyard at the end of Gul Road at the time.-- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
HE HAD stopped his trailer at the side of the road for forty winks, and was just drifting off when the 12m-long vehicle wobbled.
Mr Shukor Ayub thought nothing of it, but seconds later, a man appeared at his window, rapping furiously.
Startled awake, he climbed out, and saw carnage.
A lorry ferrying 10 foreign workers had smashed into the back of his massive 22-wheeler. Four men were killed, six others injured.
'I didn't even realise it until someone came and told me,' said the stunned 30-year-old Malaysian.
The only damage to the trailer was a loose wheel.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Overturned vehicles involve mostly trucks with heavy loads
The following article was published by Channel NewsAsia on 25 Feb 2008.
Overturned vehicles involve mostly trucks with heavy loads
25 February 2008
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : The MediaCorp News hotline received eight calls about accidents involving overturned vehicles, between December last year and the first week of February this year.
This compares to just two cases between October and November last year.
And these are just the numbers in our records.
Traffic Police say there are no exact figures of overturned vehicles in the past few months.
This is because only accidents with injuries or fatalities are recorded.
From the reports we received, most involved trucks carrying heavy loads.
Experts say longer vehicles like trailers and lorries carrying such loads are most at risk of overturning.
The reason is these vehicles have a higher centre of gravity.
So a normal car with just front or back two-wheel drive has a lower risk due to its lower centre of gravity. On August 23 last year, a tragic accident happened.
A foreign worker was killed when he and 13 others were flung out of a lorry, along the Pan Island Expressway after their vehicle overturned.
And when vehicles topple, it usually involves trucks and lorries carrying heavy loads.
Associate Professor Seah Kah Heng, Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, said: "The centre of gravity might be quite high because they pack the cargo, and they try to pack as much as possible. Sometimes you pack the cargo to such an extent that you are not aware that the centre of gravity has gone up so much. And it is extremely dangerous to go around the corner fast."
"When you go round a sharp corner, there's such a thing called the centrifugal force. It is a force that tends to overturn the car out of the corner.
"If you are talking about trailers, some trailers have got this hinge between the prime mover and whatever cargo you're pulling. When it turns a corner, there will be some lateral or side force pulling it sideways. So that force can also cause a vehicle to overturn."
The centrifugal force is calculated based on the mass, the velocity of the vehicle and the radius of the curve.
The sharper the turn, the greater the force will act on a vehicle if a motorist is coming down at high speed.
Based on the formula, if a motorist is driving twice as fast, he will create four times a greater centrifugal force which means he is four times more likely to have his vehicle overturn.
And braking hard while driving straight can also tip a car over.
Professor Seah said: "Sometimes the brakes right and left, front and back are not balanced, and that gives the car a certain fall sideways as well. When you brake the tyre, if the tyres are not worn out evenly, it can pull the car to one side. And that can cause overturning. If something is on the road, like causing a bump, or the road is not even. That's another possibility causing the car to overturn."
The Automobile Association of Singapore says it is crucial for motorists to check their tyres regularly.
If they are not inflated properly or they are already worn out, a motorist may lose control of your vehicle. - CNA/de
(c) 2008 MediaCorp News Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Overturned vehicles involve mostly trucks with heavy loads
25 February 2008
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : The MediaCorp News hotline received eight calls about accidents involving overturned vehicles, between December last year and the first week of February this year.
This compares to just two cases between October and November last year.
And these are just the numbers in our records.
Traffic Police say there are no exact figures of overturned vehicles in the past few months.
This is because only accidents with injuries or fatalities are recorded.
From the reports we received, most involved trucks carrying heavy loads.
Experts say longer vehicles like trailers and lorries carrying such loads are most at risk of overturning.
The reason is these vehicles have a higher centre of gravity.
So a normal car with just front or back two-wheel drive has a lower risk due to its lower centre of gravity. On August 23 last year, a tragic accident happened.
A foreign worker was killed when he and 13 others were flung out of a lorry, along the Pan Island Expressway after their vehicle overturned.
And when vehicles topple, it usually involves trucks and lorries carrying heavy loads.
Associate Professor Seah Kah Heng, Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, said: "The centre of gravity might be quite high because they pack the cargo, and they try to pack as much as possible. Sometimes you pack the cargo to such an extent that you are not aware that the centre of gravity has gone up so much. And it is extremely dangerous to go around the corner fast."
"When you go round a sharp corner, there's such a thing called the centrifugal force. It is a force that tends to overturn the car out of the corner.
"If you are talking about trailers, some trailers have got this hinge between the prime mover and whatever cargo you're pulling. When it turns a corner, there will be some lateral or side force pulling it sideways. So that force can also cause a vehicle to overturn."
The centrifugal force is calculated based on the mass, the velocity of the vehicle and the radius of the curve.
The sharper the turn, the greater the force will act on a vehicle if a motorist is coming down at high speed.
Based on the formula, if a motorist is driving twice as fast, he will create four times a greater centrifugal force which means he is four times more likely to have his vehicle overturn.
And braking hard while driving straight can also tip a car over.
Professor Seah said: "Sometimes the brakes right and left, front and back are not balanced, and that gives the car a certain fall sideways as well. When you brake the tyre, if the tyres are not worn out evenly, it can pull the car to one side. And that can cause overturning. If something is on the road, like causing a bump, or the road is not even. That's another possibility causing the car to overturn."
The Automobile Association of Singapore says it is crucial for motorists to check their tyres regularly.
If they are not inflated properly or they are already worn out, a motorist may lose control of your vehicle. - CNA/de
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