Bus driver 'flips the bird' after road user confronts him for alleged errant driving
An SBS Transit bus captain lost his cool while on the road after he was confronted by another road user for allegedly not giving way to pedestrians.
The encounter took place at a traffic junction in Hougang Avenue 4 on Wednesday (Aug 17).
In a video clip uploaded to Facebook page SG Road Vigilante, the bus driver, while travelling along a three-lane road, leaves little room for a construction worker pushing a wheelbarrow on the side of the road.
Later, the same bus, identified as Bus Service 161, can be seen turning left at a junction. It stops to wait at a zebra crossing for a few pedestrians to cross, but moves off before two other pedestrians could cross. It is not clear from the video how far back the two pedestrians were.
In the final segment of the video, the road user then exchanges words with the bus captain about his driving.
The video shows the bus captain reacting angrily, and he can also be heard telling the road user to meet him at the Hougang bus depot, where he will be waiting for him.
The bus captain then sticks his arm out of the window and flashes his middle finger.
Mothership.sg reached out to SBS Transit for comment, and in response, Ms Grace Wu, vice-president of customer experience and communications at SBS Transit said:
"We have conducted an investigation into the incident and would like to share that the footage as shared by the private car driver does not fully reflect what transpired at the traffic junction yesterday morning. Our Bus Captain should have maintained his cool even under provocative circumstances. For this, we will counsel and train him to do better.
"With regards to the incident, we would like to share that based on the CCTV footage from our bus, we note that the private car driver was on the right of the bus when both vehicles stopped at the traffic lights. The private car driver then moved in front of the bus and for reasons not obvious to us, repeatedly applied the brakes suddenly although there were no traffic conditions ahead that required him to do so. He also started to use abusive language against the Bus Captain and this led to an exchange between both parties.
"We wish to point out that our Bus Captain did not drive in an unsafe manner as alleged by the private car driver. In fact, our Bus Captain had also stopped at the pedestrian crossing to give way to a pedestrian. The two other pedestrians were still a distance away when our Bus captain moved forward."
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