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In the early hours yesterday morning, right when many of us would have been waking up and getting ready to go to work, those on the Kranji Expressway were thrown into a panic when this accident occurred: How did it happen? The scenario went like this: the motorcyclist was just going straight ahead. At the far left, some other cars were shifting lanes, moving to the right: Disaster strikes. Unfortunately, the Kia Niro (immediate closest) to the motorcyclist made a rash and foolish decision--- to swerve abruptly. This gave the motorcyclist about approximately a second to react, which wasn't enough, of course. Cue the imminent collision. It didn't stop there, as the force of the sideswipe was strong enough to propel the motorcyclist into the flank of another car ahead; its second collision. The tumble onto the hard tar road was inevitable: Oh my god! Our hearts dropped when seeing this. Thankfully, help arrives. Upon seeing the accident that had just occurred, Good Samaritans also on the road slowed down, or stopped their vehicles to offer assistance. The motorcyclists had slowed down to help a brother in need. The one closest to the fallen rider was also seen trying to lift the heavy motorcycle off of him. Divided opinions. There was an outpour of differing opinions online. Some commentators deduced that the cars were ultimately at fault. Some shared the same sentiment, but with a slightly different take: But it was agreed that the sudden lane change far left had caused the crashes. Yes, we think so too. There were also some less-than-helpful comments, bordering on nasty: Including this Come on man. Was not the biker's fault that he got into an accident. Not cool. Hasty driving has consequences. It is hard to pinpoint and assign fault exactly, but we can say that the abrupt lane change definitely was the direct cause of the motorcyclist collision happening. It is depressing and unfortunate to see the spate of motorcycle accidents as of late, especially the recent Simei lorry incident that sadly claimed the life of another motorcyclist (Rest in peace). We urge all our readers to always stay vigilant and safe on the roads, and we hope this motorcyclist gets better soon. ========= Be the first to get the latest road/ COE news and get first dibs on exclusive promos and giveaways in our Telegram SGCM Community. Join us today!

Something that bugs me a lot. To swerve or not to swerve to avoid hitting an animal if it suddenly darts out onto the road infront of you. In Singapore's context, usually a dog, cat, sambar deer, monkeys? What else? Our natural instinct would be to swerve right? I'm an animal lover and instinctively, I would as well. But is that really the right thing to do? There's so many factors to consider, road condition, any cars near me, will the car behind me be able to stop safely? But fact is we don't have the luxury of time to analyze. What are the consequence of swerving to avoid hitting an animal? You place your passengers at risk, most will react by swerving left or right, you may end up hitting a barrier, a tree, you may take a car or two along with you, or even a motorcycle with a pillion, you may end up causing a chain collision. Worst still, you may end up mounting the curb and taking a bystander on the pavement along with you (if it's on small roads). What if you suddenly e-brake? You may cause a horrific rear collision if the car behind you is unable to react in time. What happens then if you hit the animal head on? You end up feeling guilty for killing an animal, you'll end up paying for your broken bumper/fender or other repairs. But hopefully the impact ends there. Importantly what we should do is to maintain a proper following distance, be attentive on the road and react properly on the road. Unless, you are dead sure of the road and traffic condition around you (no cars, no bikes, no pedestrians), don't swerve. Not saying that animals lives ain't important but just saying don't jeopardize the lives of others while trying to save that dog, cat or squirrel. And dog owners, please keep your pets leashed. No use crying if you don't leash your pets and then it ends up a road kill. The only fault of the driver then would be if he hits and then run.