Cabby 'throws objects' at
car in 10-minute ordeal
An SMRT taxi driver has been sacked for allegedly terrorising
another motorist along the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) on
Sunday, tailgating, swerving in and out of lanes, and hurling
vulgarities and objects - including a drink can - at the
motorist.
The road bully's dangerous
antics were caught by the in-car cameras at the front and rear of
his victim's car.
The victim, using the moniker
Bee Pok, posted 23 video clips of the incident on YouTube. Each
clip lasts about a minute.
Bee Pok gave a vivid
description in the captions for the video clips of his harrowing
encounter in the ordeal, which began at around 5.40pm and lasted
about 10 minutes.
The first clips from both the
front and rear perspectives show Bee Pok's car in the right most
lane and overtaking the taxi, a Ssangyong Rodius, in the middle
lane as they approached the KPE.
The taxi then switched lanes
and speeded up behind Bee Pok's car.
There is no indication from
the clips of any obvious incident between them that might have
triggered the cabby's behaviour.
He tried to cut back into the
middle lane ahead of Bee Pok, but failed.
Just before Bee Pok entered
the KPE, the cabby sped up and cut into the middle lane, and went
dangerously close to hitting a motorcyclist before swerving back
behind Bee Pok.
When Bee Pok switched to the
middle lane to let the taxi pass, it speeded up and moved out of
range of the cameras.
The cabby then slowed down,
returned to the middle lane and tailgated Bee Pok again in a
cat-and-mouse game.
Bee Pok wrote: "At 17:42.01
(5.42pm), he tried to cause a side collision by squeezing in
between the car in front of me, swerving in and out...
"He then purposely slowed down
on the first lane and cut to the second lane, coming to a halt at
17:42.47, causing a black Toyota to stop behind him, taunting me to
overtake him."
Bee Pok refused to take the
bait and the cabby later swerved into his lane, almost hitting his
car and causing Bee Pok to swerve to avoid him.
His action almost led to a
silver car hitting the rear of his vehicle.
"(The cabby) then took out a
can and threw it at my car...I sped up to avoid him and any
confrontation, as I feared for my safety, but he sped up and
continued to follow me."
At one point, the cabby wound
down his window while driving beside Bee Pok.
"I wound down my window to ask
him why he was driving in this manner. He retorted with threatening
words and vulgarities, and asked me to get out of the car to fight
him," Bee Pok wrote.
"I could see from his red face
that he looked intoxicated."
Bee Pok then called the police
for help, even as loud thuds were heard from objects being thrown
at his car.
In one of the clips, Bee Pok
can be heard telling a police officer over the phone: "He's a crazy
person. He's throwing things at me for no reason."
The cabby continued to drive
alongside Bee Pok's car, blaring his horn continuously while
swerving left and right.
He resumed throwing objects at
Bee Pok's car, then drove towards the exit to East Coast Parkway,
before swerving back dangerously to the KPE and almost hitting the
divider.
Bee Pok, who said that he made
three calls to the police, wrote: "He kept signalling me to stop
the car. I feared for my safety."
He ignored the cabby, and the
ordeal finally ended when the driver took the Marina Bay exit along
the Marina Coastal Expressway.
A police spokesman confirmed
on Monday that they received a call at around 5.55pm.
Investigations are ongoing
into the case, which has been classified as a rash act.
Mr Patrick Nathan,
vice-president of corporate information and communications at SMRT,
said investigations showed that the taxi was driven by a relief
driver who had no prior accident record.
SMRT terminated his contract
on Monday, he said.
"The incident is regrettable.
SMRT takes a serious view on any incident that may compromise the
safety of our passengers, as well as fellow road users," Mr Nathan
said.
