Passenger seriously hurt after bus driver brakes hard to avoid crash
Bus driver applied emergency brakes after car cut into its lane; male car driver arrested
A passenger suffered serious injuries after the driver of the bus he was on braked hard to avoid an accident on Wednesday.
Mr Siah Keok Tiang, 68, suffered injuries that included a head injury and fracture of his left rib cage, which resulted in the puncturing of the lung, his daughter said in a post on Facebook.
Ms Siah Hwan Ling, 30, also appealed for witnesses. She said her father was on his way home from Sakyadhita-NKF Dialysis Centre in Upper Boon Keng Road and was expected to alight at Bugis Cube.
In an update yesterday, Ms Siah said her father was transferred to the intensive care unit.
The right side of Mr Siah's brain was bleeding. Other injuries included fractures - in his right wrist, elbow and arm as well as left shoulder blade.
In response to queries from The New Paper yesterday, Ms Tammy Tan, senior vice-president of corporate communications at SBS Transit, said the incident happened on service 175.
Ms Tan added closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage showed Mr Siah had stood up from his seat and was preparing to alight when the bus driver applied the emergency brakes after a car cut into its lane.
Mr Siah, who was near the front door, lost his footing and was thrown forward.
Ms Tan said the bus captain immediately contacted the operations control centre, "which summoned an ambulance".
A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said Mr Siah was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The police was alerted to the incident at about 11.45 am, said a spokesman, adding that a 43-year-old male car driver was arrested for careless driving causing grievous hurt.
Ms Siah told Chinese daily Shin Min Daily News that her brother informed her at about 12.50pm that their father was seriously injured.
The siblings waited for hours at the hospital, and when they saw their unconscious father being taken to get a CT scan, they collapsed and cried.
In a later update yesterday, Ms Siah said her family was upset there were no calls from SBS Transit until her posts.
She and her husband had to go to a bus terminal in Geylang almost 12 hours after the incident for more information.
Ms Tan said the company could not contact Mr Siah's family earlier as it did not have their contact details. It did so on Wednesday night after an online feedback alert at 10.45pm.
"We called them to make contact and to let them know that we were expediting our investigations and would get back to them in the morning, which we did. We remain in close communication with them."
Ms Tan said SBS Transit has shared the CCTV footage with the Traffic Police.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
