A video making the rounds on Facebook today shows the frightening moment a Singaporean motorcyclist hits the pavement after being sideswiped by a van on the Pan Island Expressway. As usual, we have a dashcam to thank for the fact any of us know about it.
READ: An Ode to Singapore’s Dashcams: 15 of the best ‘oh, damn!’ moments caught on video
The minute-long video, posted to the SG Road Vigilante page, shows the van switch lanes without signaling, moving directly into the path of the motorcyclist and sending him tumbling across the asphalt.
After the collision, the van nearly slows to a stop — the results of the accident in plain view — then simply speeds off. It wasn’t immediately clear if the driver was aware that they were responsible or if Singaporean police are in the process of tracking them down.
The downed motorcyclist nearly provoked a chain-reaction collision in the right lane as well as an SMRT taxi hit the brakes to take a peek, forcing the vehicles behind it to do the same.
The motorcyclist, meanwhile, was obviously traumatized by the impact and remained on the ground while gathering him or herself together. Luckily, the driver behind the dashboard camera was able to stop in time, or the incident would’ve ended really badly (and we definitely wouldn’t be sharing the below embed).
As scary as it was for the motorcyclist, it was encouraging to see them being attended to by other concerned motorists, including a man who seems to be the driver of the car with the dashcam.
While we’re left to wonder who exactly was behind the wheel of a van, meanwhile, we do have one major clue: it had a probation plate fixed to the top-right-hand corner of its rear window, signaling that the driver had just gotten his or her license.
The video, which has been viewed more than 50,000 times, has already attracted a slew of comments from Facebook users, with many accusing the van driver of committing a hit-and-run — the whole not stopping thing will get you that kind of reaction. The lookie-loo cab driver also came in for some criticism, while others praised the samaritans who stopped to help the victim.
Under Singaporean law, drivers could get fined up to S$3,000 (about US$2,200), jailed up to a year, or both, if found guilty of a hit-and-run that caused a serious injury or death.
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