Crashing into tree saved my life

The driver, who wanted to be known only as Mr Li, 35, said his van had mounted a kerb and crashed into a tree along West Coast Highway yesterday.

The accident also involved a car, a lorry and a motorcycle.

"If not for the tree, I would've surely died," he said.

"It is better to crash into a tree and live than to go into oncoming traffic."

Mr Li was in the van with his wife Madam Yu, 30, when the accident occurred at 6pm.

It caused a traffic jam that stretched for about 600m.

Mr Li suffered a cut on his left elbow and a bruise on his forehead, while his wife said she had a cut on her lip.

He was driving in the middle lane when it happened, he said. "I was just spinning and spinning... before crashing into the tree."

Dispatch rider Hafiz Mohd, 33, who was on the motorcycle, said: "It happened when the traffic was moving slowly. I heard a bang behind me, then I was hit. But I managed to get away unharmed."

His motorcycle was damaged. Its exhaust pipe was bent and its brakes are no longer working.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman confirmed that the drivers of the lorry and car were taken to the National University Hospital with minor injuries.

Police are investigating the incident.

Mr Jon Goh, 64, a senior engineer at MKN Engineering, said the lorry and its driver are from his company.

"I wasn't here when it happened, but from what I understand...the car was turning out of a carpark when (it happened)," he said.

The lorry and the car collided first, he said. "The lorry then swerved and hit the van, which in turn hit the motorcycle."

Mr Hafiz said he was just glad to be alive, adding: "I was really lucky. If not for the storage compartment at the back of my bike, I would've been a goner.

davidsun@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Dec 13, 2014.
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