A new video — dubbed by Roads.sg as “the video the whole Singapore is waiting for” — has surfaced in the aftermath of the recent road incident between a cyclist and a lorry driver in Pasir Ris which has sparked widespread criticism against the former individual.
In a video uploaded and watermarked by Roads.sg on Monday (24 Dec), the cyclist, while appearing to be relatively unscathed in the video, was reportedly “still in a rage about the knock over” and grabbed the phone from the driver while the latter was apparently recording with his phone.
The driver, on the other hand, wrote Roads.sg, appears to be “pretty cool about the whole issue”.
While it has been established that the incident is not a “hit-and-run” case, the support of netizens remain overwhelmingly in favour of the lorry driver, with many commenters applauding the lorry driver’s honesty and composure in handling the issue.
Last Saturday (22 Dec), Roads.sg posted a Facebook video of the road altercation — which has since garnered 1.9 million views as Monday (24 Dec) — with the following description:
TO BE HONEST, it is already hard to drive in one lane TOGETHER with a cyclist. And in this case, the cyclist was selfish and irresponsible to ride in the middle of the lane. Thus, the lorry honked TWICE. Please note, TWO SHORT HONKS ONLY. (Once to ask him to move to the side, another time when they ignored the horn).
However, the rowdy cyclist went beside the lorry and SMASH THE SIDE MIRROR, what the hell? And the lorry driver banged him onto the grass verge just to get back at the cyclist for what he has done. The cyclist fell to the ground but WAS NOT injured. He stood up and the lorry uncle stopped his vehicle.
Do you think the cyclist is right? How can one just smash the mirror and get rowdy just because he think he SHOULDNT GET HONKED. Is keeping to the side of the roads so hard?
Netizens appear to be in unison over their stance on the incident, with an overwhelming majority of commenters chiding the cyclist for flouting rules of traffic and allegedly deliberately antagonising the lorry driver.
TODAY Online‘s report on the incident was also heavily criticised for portraying what they deemed to be an inaccurate narrative, possibly one that is biased against the lorry driver by stating that he had “swerved into the cyclist, knocking him off his bicycle and onto the grass patch next to the road”.
It was also stated in the report that “netizens who commented on the video disagreed over who was at fault in the incident,” and that “some asked if it was right for the cyclist to “get rowdy” and felt that the lorry driver was not at fault, while others said that the driver’s action was dangerous — regardless of the provocation — and could have resulted in more serious consequences”, all of which has been rebutted by netizens:
Many netizens also questioned the role of the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the Traffic Police and other authorities in handling the problem of cyclists who have reportedly violated traffic laws — and have subsequently posed as road hazards to motorists — on a frequent basis:
However, there appears to be a small minority of commenters who have offered opinions from the perspective of the cyclist in the incident:
