Hit by bike after stepping through gate, woman in viral video seeks apology and urges cyclists to be more careful

SINGAPORE — Ms Sally Ng has been careful when crossing roads and walking on footpaths after an incident eight years ago when her daughter, aged four at the time, fell over after she was almost struck by a cyclist.

The girl, now 12, was left shaken though not badly injured when the cyclist sped across her path as she was stepping out of the lift of their housing block. Ms Ng's husband chased the cyclist but was unable to catch up with the person.

Ms Ng, 44, an executive assistant, said: "She cried a lot the day it happened and felt traumatised the whole day." 

That close shave served as a lesson on road safety for the rest of the family, including Ms Ng's 14-year-old son. 

Then three weeks ago, Ms Ng was stepping out of the gate of her Punggol condominium Prive onto a footpath for her evening jog and moments later, she was knocked off her feet by a cyclist. 

Recounting the incident from her home in a tearful interview with TODAY on Tuesday (April 12), she said: "Because I hit my head and the impact was so great that I actually blacked out... I heard a huge 'bang', which I think was from my head (hitting the ground). 

After regaining consciousness, she was unable to move her body from below the neck and was afraid that the fall had caused injuries to her spinal cord, which may cause permanent loss of function or mobility. 

"I was very scared at that point of time, that I may be permanently paralysed from the neck down, not able to move my body at all. And I know that this trauma and pain will live with me for the rest of my life," she said in between sobs. 

The Singapore Civil Defence Force received a call for assistance at 5.40pm on March 21, regarding an incident at a bus stop along Punggol Road. Ms Ng was taken to Sengkang General Hospital. 

The police said that a 68-year-old man is assisting them with investigations. 

Ms Ng said: "When I finally opened my eyes, I was in a complete shock. Then I heard (the cyclist) ask me if I was okay and if I needed any help. I said 'yes' because I could not move and was in pain. 

"I remember he then asked me, 'Why didn't you avoid me when walking out of the side gate?'" 

She later decided to publish a closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) recording of the incident and account of what happened onto social media group Roads.Sg, to raise awareness of the importance of road safety and urge cyclists to be more careful when riding on walkways. 

In the post, which starts off with a call for "justice", Ms Ng wrote that the cyclist "did not apologise and was rude and arrogant", adding that he "claimed that he did not hit me and blamed me for not giving way to him". 

The video is footage of Ms Ng stepping out of the gate of her condominium and glancing to her right before the cyclist crashed into her from her left. The cyclist fell off his bicycle. 

The video garnered 105,000 views and more than 1,500 reactions in just two days. 

Since the video went viral, Ms Ng has seen trolls on social media commenting that she should be blamed for the incident and some online users have even cracked jokes. 

However, she said that she brushed these comments off and considered them "funny", while not allowing them to impede her recovery. 

She does not plan on asking for compensation for medical fees or taking any legal action against the cyclist. She also stressed that she does not want online users to "push him to a corner". 

"I know that since this incident went viral, 'uncle' must be feeling the stress from the public, or maybe even from his family. I don't want to push him anymore, I just want to bring this up so that other cyclists will be more careful," she said, her voice cracking. 

"I just want him to know that he shouldn't be riding so fast and he should not have been so defensive at that point of time. He should apologise as well."