E-scooter rider jailed 1 week for riding on road against traffic flow, colliding with pedestrian

SINGAPORE — While rushing to get to the mosque for his Friday prayers, Jani Basha Mohamed Nizamudeen decided to ride his electric scooter on the road against the flow of traffic and ended up crashing into a pedestrian, causing her to fracture her wrist.

On Wednesday (Dec 8), the 41-year-old permanent resident was jailed for one week. He will begin serving his sentence on Dec 15. He told the court that he had to settle some medical appointments for his wife.

He pleaded guilty to a single charge of causing grievous hurt to Madam Ng Geok Yan, 65, by a rash act.

One other charge under the Road Traffic Act — riding a personal mobility device on the road — was taken into consideration for sentencing.

The incident happened on July 19 in 2019 at about 2pm. Jani was heading from home to Masjid Chulia in the Chinatown area.

He was riding on a footpath at first, which was permitted at the time, but then decided to ride on the left-most lane of South Bridge Road towards North Bridge Road. This was because there were many pedestrians on the footpath and he was late for his prayers.

He then rode against the flow of traffic. There were no vehicles in the lane at the time because they had stopped at a nearby traffic junction.

Just then, Mdm Ng stepped from the footpath onto the lane with the intention of crossing the road, after checking to see that traffic had stopped.

Her back was facing Jani, who failed to keep a proper lookout and collided with her. She fell onto the road from the impact.

Jani called the police a while later, asking if he needed to continue waiting there since the paramedics had told him that they had already informed the police.

An ambulance arrived and took Mdm Ng to the hospital. She had broken her wrist and suffered head injuries.

She was discharged from the hospital on the same day and given seven days of medical leave.

Jani offered to pay restitution of S$514 for her medical expenses, but she rejected the offer because she had already claimed the sum from her insurer.

For causing grievous hurt by a rash act, he could have been jailed for up to four years or fined up to S$10,000, or punished with both.