‘Always try to be kind’: Praise for motorcyclist who helped woman walking on PIE

SINGAPORE – As traffic slowed along the PIE towards the CTE in the direction of Ang Mo Kio on April 7, motorcyclist Vaune Phan began to wonder what was causing the build-up.

It was about 4.45pm when she approached the ramp connecting the PIE to the CTE – a stretch where congestion had started to form. Then, she saw the cause for the hold-up.

“A lady was standing right in the middle of the expressway, swaying left and right,” Ms Phan told The Straits Times. “Cars, lorries, vans – they were all trying to pass her without hitting her. It was so dangerous.”

The woman, believed to be in her early 40s, was walking with her back to oncoming traffic on a narrow stretch of road that had no shoulder for emergency stops. Ms Phan said the woman appeared disoriented and unsteady, and she immediately felt the need to act.

“She looked distressed. I didn’t know what had happened, but my first thought was just to get her to safety,” said Ms Phan, a social media influencer and well-known figure in Singapore’s motorcycling community.

As she approached the woman on her Suzuki DR200 scrambler, Ms Phan quickly signalled to a nearby car driver – whom she later thanked for helping to hold traffic – before pulling up carefully beside her.

“I rolled up next to her and asked, ‘Hey… are you all right?’” she recounted. “She looked at me and said in Mandarin, ‘I’m tired. I’m really very tired’.”

Fearing for the woman’s mental health and safety, Ms Phan said she calmly told the woman: “Okay, don’t worry, I’m here. I will help you, okay? Let me give you a lift – we go somewhere safer to talk.”

To her surprise, the woman agreed. She climbed onto the pillion seat, and Ms Phan told her to hold on tightly.

“I gently held her hands and said, ‘Don’t worry, trust me, everything’s going to be okay.’ She then leaned her head on the back of my shoulder.”

Ms Phan took the nearest exit at Braddell Road. Soon after, she spotted a police car and approached the officers for help. She took the woman to a nearby carpark, where they stopped safely and handed her over to the police for assistance.

A driver’s dashcam captured the encounter, and the footage was later uploaded to the Facebook page SG Road Vigilante (SGRV) later that day. The video has since garnered more than 596,000 views.

Ms Phan’s concern and kind gesture has earned praise online, with one commenter, Ray Han, writing, “You’ve got a big heart. We can learn from you.” Others, like Kah Hin, pointed out, “So many vehicles passed by, only the motorcycle stops and helps.”

Reflecting on the incident, Ms Phan said she was just thankful that everyone was safe. “I’m just very grateful that she’s okay,” she said. “Let’s always try to be kind – you never know who might need help.”

‘You are my superhero’

A similar act of kindness by another motorcyclist is also making the rounds on Instagram and Facebook.

In a video posted on Feb 10, the motorcyclist stops along an expressway at night to check on a man walking on the road. After noticing the man smells of alcohol, the motorcyclist warns him, “You’re walking on the road, on an expressway,” to which the man replies, “I know”.

The motorcyclist urges him to move to the road shoulder for safety, guiding him there while asking, “Are you sure you can go on from here?” The man thanks him and says he is fine.

When asked if he has family to call for assistance, the man mumbles inaudibly and continues walking. The motorcyclist then signals oncoming cars to slow down. He follows the man for some distance, until the man is off the road and reaches a pavement safely.

The video, reposted on the Facebook page Beh Chia Lor – Singapore Road on April 6, has since garnered over 24,000 views.

The motorcyclist was also praised by netizens, with several likening him to a hero. Sung Moon O - Sham commented, “Thank you, you are amazing”, while Joel Okie wrote, “Well done, cam rider... You are my superhero.”