Death of boy hit by SMRT bus ruled an ‘unfortunate traffic misadventure’

SINGAPORE — The death of a six-year-old boy last year, after he was hit by an SMRT bus and trapped under it, was ruled an “unfortunate traffic misadventure” by the state coroner on Monday (Feb 18). 

On May 28 last year, Arul Dev Ashwin, an Indian national, was crossing the road along Choa Chu Kang Avenue 5 towards Choa Chu Kang Ave 4 with his mother, Madam Nagarajan Lakshmi.

Mdm Nagarajan had left home that morning with Arul to take him to a class at Block 485D, Choa Chu Kang Ave 5. She held Arul’s hand as they started to cross the single-lane, two-way divider road at about 9.05am.

However, when they were in the middle of the lane, her son let go of her hand and walked ahead of her towards the centre divider. After Arul reached the divider, Mdm Nagarajan said that she saw him step off and take two steps before he was hit by the bus.

As the bus driver’s view of Arul was blocked by the centre divider's railings, he did not see the boy stepping onto the road.

The bus travelled for one bus length before stopping.

Arul was trapped under the rear right wheel of the bus and rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force had to use lifting equipment to extract him. His slipper was found about 15m behind the bus.

The boy was taken to the National University Hospital where he was pronounced dead from multiple injuries after 40 minutes of resuscitation.

In her written findings from the coroner’s inquiry, State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam noted that children should hold an adult’s hand when crossing the road and should always be supervised.

“It is important to bear in mind that children are generally impulsive and known to behave unpredictably. They are easily distracted. They may not be as experienced in judging the speed and distance of oncoming vehicles. It can be hard for motorists to spot them as well,” she added.

At the time of the accident, the road surface was dry, visibility was clear and traffic was light.

A mechanical inspection conducted on the bus showed no inherent mechanical defects that could have caused or contributed to the accident.