NParks trees pierced through car windscreen, no APOLOGY !

last SG · 2008-01-17T11:11:49+00:00

i recalled a similar incident last year. a tree branch fell on a car at potong pasir, ah seng blamed chiam see tong's town council of not doing their job ma...

maurizio13 SG

Jan 18, 2008

NParks searching for tree in crash

A DAY after a 2m branch crashed straight through a woman's windscreen as she drove along Bedok South Road, narrowly missing her, the authorities took her back to the spot - to look for the tree in question.

To get to the bottom of how it happened, National Parks Board (NParks) officers took the driver, Madam Jenny Yeh, 47, tree-hunting along the road yesterday.

NParks Section Head of Parks Kenny Khoo examined the 10m- to 12m-tall rain trees along the stretch, but Madam Yeh could not pin down the exact tree from which the branch had plunged into the car.

His officers will inspect the trees although, at first glance, they seemed healthy, he added.

Trees along expressways and heritage roads are inspected once a year, said NParks.

This is done once in 18 months for those along major roads and once in two years for those along minor roads or streets with less traffic.

NParks said on Monday and Tuesday , it received reports of seven cases of fallen branches.

Botanist Hugh Tan told The Straits Times that while rain trees are strong, their branches spread quite far out from the trunk.

Associate Professor Tan, deputy director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in the National University of Singapore, said in the case of a diseased or dead branch, fungi would have affected it, weakening the limb.

But even healthy trees are not immune, he said.

'A branch is like a sail. With a certain amount of water and wind pressure, there is a net weight. And if the branch cannot bear the load, it will break.'

TRACY SUA

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_197420.html

Quite fantastic, don't you think. Such a big piece of branch and they can't find the branch or the tree that the branch broke from. Maybe the event didn't happen, it was just a figment of her imagination. Laughing

maurizio13 SG

NParks has 766 staff.

If each staff can inspect 10 trees a day, in 6 months they would have inspected 984,857 trees (approx. 1 million trees).

Do we have more than 1 million trees in the public areas?

deathbait SG

Can we just agree that after all this research, no one can bring up a case study where an accident occured which damaged a tree, and the driver was made to pay for the damage of the tree?

Because rhetorics and foreign laws aside, this was what started the sub debate. And Hyperfocal was the one who said he's looking for it, so let's wait for that to materialise.

maurizio13 SG

You willing to pay for my time access to Lawnet?

I will be willing to take time out to search for a case.

Don't expect me to pay for something you requested due to your ignorance.

All of Singapore's case files are not easily accessible.

I remembered reading such a case where a motorist was ordered to pay for the cost of the tree, it was quite some time ago. I haven't been buying the Straits Time for a long long time, due to it's propaganda content.

maurizio13 SG

A tree is also public property, it takes time and money grow the tree.

Surely you don't expect the NParks to be paying for another motorist negligence. Which is nonsensical. Trees cost money to plant and maintain.

You of all people should know that nothing in Singapore is free.

Of the 3,000 trees on the site, one third are earmarked for conservation.

The trees that make the cut will be pruned and packed off to a temporary nursery - about 1.5 times the size of a football field located nearby.

So far one hundred trees have been transplanted and over the next few weeks Resorts World at Sentosa will transplant 200 more.

The trees will be replanted at the resort when construction is complete.

It will cost about S$400,000 (US$259,000) to maintain the trees over three years.

This is three times the price of buying new nursery stock.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/281948/1/.html

deathbait SG

I'm going to sound a little rude here, but the fact of the matter is, no one really asked you to go around digging. Hyperfocal volunteered, and I'm still waiting for his results.

Memories serve their purpose, but have no place in a discussion where proof is vounteered. Until Hyperfocal gets back here with the articles in question, there is no need for you to come up with excuses for the inability to provide documents.

seotiblizzard SG

One word.

Suay.

Neutral

Laughing

Then that time the lightning hit one tree and killed a passerby?

blame the tree??

or the lightning??

or NPB?

or NEA??

One word nia.

Suay.

newcomer SG

Wow, so much has been said.

I can only come to a conclusion that it has all been about the money for M13. What with his over-quoting and irrelevant data, it only proves how much free time and motivation he has to prove an otherwise lost case, despite not being paid.

maurizio13 SG

If you say so. Very Happy

You are entitled to your own opinion based on your level of intelligence.

HyperFocal SG

CLOSE CALL FOR DRIVER ON THOMSON ROAD
FALLING BRANCH SLAMS INTO MOVING TRUCK
By Kor Kian Beng

February 18, 2008

DRIVING his freezer truck along Thomson Road was an everyday event - until part of a tree came smashing through his windscreen yesterday afternoon.

A piece of theaction: Driver Mohamed Nazir Abdul Aziz (far right) and his assistant, MrNadarajah Ganesalingam, holding the piece of tree branch that crashed into their truck.
In a flash, Mr Mohamed Nazir Abdul Aziz's face and body were covered with glass shards.

Despite the shock, the 30-year-old was able to keep in control of the truck and avoid hitting nearby vehicles.

He managed to stop the truck 20m down the road.

Mr Mohamed Nazir said he was driving on the left-most lane along Thomson Road, heading for the Pan Island Expressway exit, to deliver perishable goods to Changi Airport.

Shortly after he passed an Electronic Road Pricing gantry, a thick, 1m-long tree branch crashed onto the truck.

A small part of the branch broke and smashed through the windscreen.

It hit Mr Mohamed Nazir's assistant Mr Nadarajah Ganesalingam, 50, in the chest, leaving him with some bruises and cuts.

Mr Nadarajah also had trouble seeing after some pieces of glass flew into his eyes.

The accident happened at around 1.30pm, at the stretch of road opposite the flower nurseries.

When The New Paper on Sunday arrived at the scene an hour later, both driver and assistant still looked shaken.

The front part of the truck was partly dented, and glass shards could be seen inside and outside the vehicle.

A long trail of debris and tyre marks could be seen on the road.

Mr Mohamed Nazir, who has speech and hearing problems, spoke through his supervisor, who wished to be known only as Melvin.

The supervisor arrived at the scene after the workers called him.

LUCKY

Mr Mohamed Nazir said he was lucky that the larger part of the tree branch had slammed onto the front of the truck and not onto him.

He said through his supervisor: 'The truck's body saved my life.

'I'd have been seriously injured if that had happened.'

The driver also said he was lucky that he managed to keep control of the vehicle.

Just before impact, two cars were travelling ahead of him and a truck was on his right, he recalled.

Mr Nadarajah said everything happened very quickly.

At around 3pm, a police car and an ambulance arrived to take both victims to the hospital.

A replacement truck was arranged by the supervisor to continue the delivery of the goods. The damaged truck was towed away.

The supervisor said his two workers and the truck are covered under personal and vehicle insurance respectively.

However, he said he was unsure if his company could make an insurance claim with the relevant government agencies.

Jamie Zawinski SG

maintaining a garden city has its price.

and we should not be paying for it with our lives literally. nparks has to double its budget and engage more horticulture contractors to inspect and prune the trees regularly.