WATCH: Car hit by sliding metal sheets from trailer truck

She was driving on Punggol Road when she saw a trailer truck travelling in the opposite direction.

To her horror, as the truck made a turn, its cargo of metal sheets slid onto the road and hit her car.

The impact pushed her vehicle up a kerb and a metal sheet that had sliced and cut her tyre pinned the car against a tree.

"Thank goodness I had slowed down earlier because the metal sheet was barely five feet from me.

"It could have sliced through the car and hurt me quite badly," Madam Deng Liming told The New Paper yesterday.

The incident happened on Tuesday at about 5.10pm, during a drizzle.

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Madam Deng, 30, a recruiter, was on her way to pick up her son from a childcare centre near Punggol Jetty, a five-minute drive from her home.

"As I came to the turn, I saw the trailer truck coming towards me, so I decided to slow down and let it pass first, in case it scratched my car," she said.

She wanted to be extra careful because her Toyota Mark X had been in a minor incident about two months ago.

Madam Deng, who got her driver's licence in April, said it was the first time she had seen such a large vehicle on that stretch of Punggol Road, which has only one lane on each side.

She was horrified when the cargo of metal sheets slid off the truck as it went round the bend.

Madam Deng said the accident caused her car door to be stuck and a passer-by had to help prise it open to let her out.

SNAPPED

As she stood by her damaged vehicle, she noticed that the belt securing the metal sheets to the truck had snapped and was frayed at other parts.

"The truck was carrying about 12 pieces of metal sheets. I was later told that each of those can weigh up to two tonnes," she said.

The accident has left Madam Deng scarred. She has not been back behind the wheel since and is afraid of getting hit even when taking public transport, she said.

The incident also left her with several bruises and whiplash.

Madam Deng called on logistics companies and developers in Punggol to look at safer routes for transporting heavy cargo, especially in areas near Punggol Jetty, where there are a number of childcare centres.

"Companies with big vehicles should also train their staff, especially those preparing cargo," she said.

When contacted, the owner of AG Teck Choon Logistics, Mr K.H. Tan, said the company had been handling several projects in the Punggol area.

The vehicle had been transporting metal sheets from one work site to another, he added.

These are used to cover temporary holes in the ground so workers and machinery can pass through without worrying about potholes.

Mr Tan added that the truck driver, a Chinese national, has been with the company for about two months, but had been working in Singapore for two years before that.

"Accidents do happen and while this was unfortunate, we're relieved that no one was seriously hurt.

"When something like this happens, we know it'll weigh on our worker's conscience for a long time, so we don't want to blame him too much," Mr Tan told TNP in Mandarin.

OFFERED RIDE

He added that he rushed to the scene after being told what had happened, arriving shortly after 6pm. He gave Madam Deng a lift home in his car and Madam Deng's husband waited for the tow truck.

When asked about compensation, Mr Tan said the matter was being handled by the company's insurers. He declined to elaborate.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it sent an ambulance to the scene, but the female driver, who had light bruises, declined to be taken to hospital. TNP understands that a fire engine was also sent to clear the debris.

"The truck was carrying about 12 pieces of metal sheets. I was later told that each of those can weigh up to two tonnes."

- Madam Deng Liming