Impact sends them flying through the air

A newly-wed couple on a motorcycle were waiting at the Woodlands Road junction with Mandai Road when an army safety vehicle crashed into them from behind.

The impact of the accident, which happened at 8.45pm on Dec 10, sent the couple flying through the air before they blacked out.

Their motorcycle ended up wedged between the army vehicle and a car in front.

When Madam Veenothini Adesh, a 22-year-old student at Kaplan Singapore, regained consciousness, she found herself in a drain with her left elbow dislocated and her ankle twisted.

Her husband, the director of a production company, landed about 3m away from her on the road, after crashing face-first into the car in front.

He had multiple cuts and bruises on his legs and a shard of plastic was lodged in his thigh.

"I still can't see properly with my right eye," he told The New Paper at their Yishun flat on Monday.

"I get constant headaches that refuse to go away. The doctor says it's because of the trauma from the impact."

The couple said they were waiting behind a car at the junction when the army vehicle hit them from behind.

"We were waiting for about 10 seconds to make a U-turn, not moving at all," said the husband.

"Suddenly, there was a bang and I remember flying through the air before I blacked out."

Mr Goh Kai Lip, 55, who was in the car in front of the victim, said he also heard a bang from behind him.

"I came out and saw his motorcycle crushed under my car bumper," he said. "I attended to him while my mother, who was with me, attended to his wife."

Mr Goh, who is unemployed, then called the police.

The injured couple were later taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in a Singapore Civil Defence Force ambulance.

The husband was warded for six days and his wife for four.

DISAPPOINTED

Madam Veenothini, who got married to her husband just three days before the accident, said she was disappointed that the three army personnel just stood around after the accident.

The three included a safety officer and a soldier wearing a medic arm band.

"They didn't do anything to help," she said. "All they did was stand around."

Mr Goh confirmed this, saying they just stood around even when Madam Veenothini was lying on the road asking for water.

"I had to ask them to get the water before they got some from their vehicle," said Mr Goh.

Madam Veenothini's father, Mr R. Moorthi, 47, a driver, went to the scene after his son-in-law called him.

He said that the driver of the army vehicle claimed that the brakes had failed.

"We asked the driver why he didn't pull the hand brake or swerve to another lane which was empty," he said.

Madam Veenothini's husband has since written to the Ministry of Defence and Khatib Camp, where the vehicle was from, but has received only an acknowledgement reply so far.

TNP sent queries to Mindef, including ones about the allegations made against the personnel in the army vehicle.

A Mindef spokesman said: "The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) takes a serious view of vehicle safety.

"The SAF and police are currently investigating the incident."