Van mounts pavement to escape Woodlands jam

The red van is seen in a video uploaded online moving slowly on the pavement. Driver Jason Zy Cheong said he was in a hurry to pick up his child from the childcare centre and apologised for his behaviour.
The red van is seen in a video uploaded online moving slowly on the pavement. Driver Jason Zy Cheong said he was in a hurry to pick up his child from the childcare centre and apologised for his behaviour. PHOTO: ROADS.SG

To escape a traffic jam, a van driver mounted the pavement along Woodlands Road and drove on it.

The deed was filmed and a clip posted on the Roads.sg Facebook page on Tuesday.

In the video, the red van is seen moving slowly on the pavement next to other stationary vehicles.

Facebook user Jason Zy Cheong later identified himself as the driver of the van and apologised for the incident.

Mr Cheong said in a comment on the post that he had to pick up his child from a childcare centre in Tampines, and that he would not have put his driving licence at risk if it had not been an emergency.

Noting that there were many lorries on the road, he said that traffic had not been moving at all for about 45 minutes and apologised for causing any inconvenience to anyone.

He later apologised again and said he had "no choice" as the vehicles on the road were not moving.

He added: "Seek... your kind forgiveness and understanding."

The video clip has garnered more than 70,000 views and 1,000 shares since it was posted on Tuesday.

Mr Cheong's apology drew mixed responses from netizens.

Some were sympathetic to his plight. Netizen Pang Jun Heng asked others to "cut him some slack", noting that the childcare centre could have been closing.

"If you guys have kids, you will understand him," he said.

Several netizens said Mr Cheong would have to be held responsible had a mishap occurred.

Facebook user Bing Dun Tan said: "If everyone who has something urgent resorts to this in a jam, imagine the chaos it would cause."

Another Facebook user, Ms Micheka Lee Suet Fong, said: "I am a parent myself and I understand your predicament, but the law is the law... Take care!"

Veteran lawyer Amolat Singh said that the van driver could have committed offences such as reckless or dangerous driving under the Road Traffic Act, or rash driving on a public way under the Penal Code.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 06, 2018, with the headline Van mounts pavement to escape Woodlands jam. Subscribe