Power-assisted bicycle rider jailed after reckless dash across three-lane road
Afraid that his power-assisted bicycle (PAB) would be confiscated by Land Transport Authority (LTA) officers, Sheikh Fadhil Belkhir Omar, 27, fled across a three-lane road on his vehicle.
He rode so recklessly he hit a road kerb and landed in a drain.
Yesterday, he was jailed three weeks for a rash act that endangered human life or the personal safety of others, and for riding an unregistered PAB.
The incident happened on Feb 9 last year, around 9am.
LTA senior enforcement officer Muhammad Nisfu Rahmat and his colleagues were patrolling in a van when they spotted Fadhil at the junction of Pioneer Road North and Upper Jurong Road.
They decided to stop him for a check.
Mr Muhammad stopped on the leftmost lane of the three-lane Upper Jurong Road, ahead of Fadhil, and told him to stop.
Seeing that Mr Muhammad was an LTA officer, Fadhil decided to flee.
He sped up, then swerved abruptly across three lanes from the leftmost to the rightmost lane.
He then continued to ride in the rightmost lane for about 600m before he swerved into the centre lane, then back to the leftmost lane.
He was riding so fast he lost control of his PAB and hit the kerb.
He flew off the PAB and landed in a drain.
Checks revealed that Fadhil was riding an unregistered PAB.
He was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital with a head injury and was discharged on the same day.
In sentencing, District Judge Marvin Bay said: "The courts must take a serious view of your reckless action, especially the fact that the PAB is a powered vehicle, which can cause injuries if misused or carelessly ridden."
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