SINGAPORE - Mr Nitin Nambiar was on his way to meet his friends in Marsiling when a dog suddenly appeared in front of his car. He managed to jam his brakes within five metres of the white poodle.

The 27-year-old videographer then got out of his car to try to get the pooch off the road.

But the driver behind him decided to overtake Mr Nitin to get on the next lane to move ahead. He ran over the dog.

"The car's lights panicked the dog and it started running. The car accelerated and next thing I know, there's a pool of blood on the road, with the dog kicking in the air, gasping for breath," Mr Nitin recounted his horror to The Straits Times on Tuesday.

The incident happened outside his home in Woodlands Street 41, which is near the Singapore American School.

"Where could he be rushing to? Couldn't he have been more patient and waited one minute? But I couldn't talk to him. I just wanted to punch him."

Good sense, however, prevailed - Mr Nitin calmed himself down, stopped the driver from fleeing the scene and called the police. He also contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

Mr Nitin, who has owned a Shih Tzu for the last 13 years, said the dead poodle belonged to a 15-year-old, whose father was said to have let the dog out to wander on the loose.

The Straits Times is awaiting police confirmation.

The Today newspaper reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided not to change the Road Traffic Act, which among other things, requires motorists to stop and help certain animals if they knock them down.

SPCA and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) are reportedly intending to appeal against the decision.