Pedestrian killed in accident likely followed jaywalkers
A pedestrian who was using his phone at a traffic light could have seen jaywalkers crossing a road through his peripheral vision and decided to follow them when a car struck and killed him.
Deliveryman Mohamad Yusman Sahadan, 52, was flung onto the road and was pronounced dead at the scene at around 7am on Sept 17, 2022.
In his findings dated April 17, 2023, State Coroner Adam Nakhoda said Mr Yusman must have assumed that it was safe to cross the road.
The traffic light was amber for oncoming vehicles at the time.
The State Coroner, who found Mr Yusman’s death to be a traffic-related misadventure, added: “It is all too common to see pedestrians waiting at signalised pedestrian crossings while engrossed in their mobile devices, or crossing zebra crossings and signalised pedestrian crossings while looking at their mobile devices.
“It has to be emphasised that this can be dangerous. While crossing a road, pedestrians should always ensure that they look up from their mobile devices and ensure that the oncoming traffic has come to a halt before crossing the road.”
Shortly before the tragedy, a camera in the vicinity managed to capture footage of Mr Yusman crossing Sims Avenue at a traffic light when the green man signal was on.
After that, he stood on a traffic island while waiting to cross Aljunied Road. He then took out his mobile phone and started looking at it.
The red man pedestrian signal was on when two other pedestrians nearby decided to jaywalk across the road.
Mr Yusman, who was standing about 1m behind them and was still looking intently at the device, also walked forward.
He did not look up from his phone and did not check for oncoming traffic from his right.
He was still crossing the road when he finally stopped looking at the device.
A motorist identified only as Mr TCC was driving the car that struck Mr Yusman, who was flung onto the road.
According to Mr TCC, when he heard the impact, he immediately applied the brakes and stopped the car in the second lane of the three-lane road.
At the time of the accident, the weather was fine, the traffic was moderate and the visibility was fair.
The police were alerted and a paramedic pronounced Mr Yusman dead at the scene.
An autopsy later revealed that he died from a head injury.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
