Teen e-scooter rider admits to colliding into 55-year-old woman
SINGAPORE — A rider who rode a non-compliant e-scooter above the speed limit and crashed into a 55-year-old female pedestrian admitted to the offences on Tuesday (12 November).
Skye Lee Shi Jia, then a 16-year-old student, had been working part-time delivering pizza on his e-scooter.
A probation suitability report was called for Lee, now 17, to assess if he was suitable for probation, after Lee pleaded guilty to one count of committing a negligent act, endangering the personal safety of Toh Meng Wan.
E-scooter exceeded width limit
Lee’s e-scooter, which measured 740 millimetres, exceeded the width limit of 700 millimetres set out in the Active Mobility Regulations 2018. The charge relating to this offence will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
On 23 May last year, at about 6pm, Lee rode the e-scooter along a footpath near Block 137 Teck Whye Lane, the same time Toh was walking along a nearby footpath.
Lee was driving along a footpath at a speed of about 20 kmh, which is above the speed limit of 15 kmh. He did not slow down as he neared the junction, even though his view was obstructed, and was unable to stop when he saw Toh at the junction.
Lee collided into Toh, causing her to fall and knock her head on the floor, Toh’s head began to bleed, and Lee attended to her by applying pressure on her wound in an attempt to stop her bleeding.
Laceration on back of head
Toh was later brought to Ng Teng Fong Hospital where she was found with a 4-centimetre laceration on the back of her head, which required three stitches. She also suffered from bruises on her head, arm and ankle.
Toh’s medical fees, which amounted to $488.01, were fully restituted by Lee.
Lee will return to court on 10 December. For his charge, he faces a jail term of up to six months, or a fine of up to $2,500, or both.
From 5 November, e-scooters were banned from pedestrian footpaths after a spate of high profile e-scooter accidents made headlines.
Some 100,000 registered e-scooters in Singapore are now confined to 440 kilometres of cycling paths islandwide.
While there is currently a down time to allow e-scooter users to adjust to the ban, from 1 January, those caught flouting the law may be fined up to $2,000 and/or jailed up to three months.
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