SINGAPORE – A tour bus driver failed to slow down upon reaching a discretionary left turn in Yishun Ring Road, colliding with an 18-year-old cyclist who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Appearing in court via video link on Sept 2, Chinese national Yuan Changqing, 38, sobbed as footage from his vehicle’s camera of the July 12, 2023, accident was played in court.

He was sentenced to 10 months’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of careless driving causing death. He will also be disqualified from all classes of driving licences for eight years.

At the time, he was employed by local bus chartering firm Leisure Frontier.

The court heard that Yuan had been fined for two counts of careless driving and one count of speeding on three separate occasions between 2019 and 2021.

After his record was read out in court, Yuan attributed the two careless driving offences to insufficient rest time amid a busy work schedule arranged by his company.

He added that the speeding offence occurred during the Covid-19 outbreak, when his company had asked its drivers to shuttle foreign workers to their dormitories.

“Our work schedules were very packed, and I kept rushing, which may have led to me breaking traffic rules,” he said.

On July 12, 2023, Yuan was driving his tour bus as part of a shuttle service linking Yishun, Canberra and Sembawang.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sean Teh said that as Yuan approached a discretionary left turn in Yishun Ring Road, he failed to slow down or notice Malaysian national Jeffson Tang, who wanted to cycle across the pedestrian crossing.

A discretionary turn refers to a turn at signalised junctions without the aid of red-amber-green arrows. 

Video played in court showed Yuan making the left turn without slowing down.

The flashing green man on the pedestrian crossing indicated that there were six seconds left for people to get across the road.

The prosecutor said Yuan stopped only when he heard a sound from the bus’ rear left tyre.

When he got out of the bus, he saw Mr Tang lying on the ground with blood pooling around his head. He then called the police.

DPP Teh said the impact of the collision flung Mr Tang off his bicycle and into the path of the bus, causing him to land under it.

Mr Tang’s father, who was with him, immediately attended to his son. The video footage played in court showed another man cycling ahead of Mr Tang, but the prosecution did not point out if the person was his father.

When the paramedics arrived, they observed that Mr Tang had suffered multiple abrasions to his lower limbs and injuries to his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy report later revealed that Mr Tang’s death was due to head and chest injuries consistent with those sustained in a motor vehicle accident.

When asked if he had anything to say in mitigation, Yuan said: “I wish to express my apologies to the family of the deceased. It’s too late to say anything else now.”

First-time offenders found guilty of careless driving causing death can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to $10,000, or both.