The case for cracking down or outright banning e-scooters got a shot in the arm today with the disturbing scene of one crashing into a toddler at full speed.
The 30-second clip shows a little girl walking unsupervised outside her home toward a passageway where she is bowled over by a man on a scooter. Though the impact is obscured by a pillar, the accident sends the rider sprawling on the ground to the screams of those present.
Garnell Glenn Bernard, who posted the video to Complaint Singapore, said his daughter suffered a minor injury to her thigh as a result. He also noted that the rider claimed to be traveling at 17kph.
“[I]t’s clearly wrong that he is riding at that speed on the corridor/ void deck and the second my daughter who is 3 years old was playing on my corridor he dash across and hit my baby daughter and to everyone who is reading this text is pmds allowed to ride on the pathway or corridor or the void deck [sic]?” he wrote Tuesday.
With a ban on the table, is the ride over for Singapore’s e-scooters?
Bernard said the accident happened Sunday but did not specify where the housing estate is located. He did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday. The New Paper reported on Thursday that it took place in Boon Lay and that Bernard has filed a police report.
The rider was cruising through the public housing estate when he hit the girl, along with other items placed behind the pillar and was thrown to the ground by the collision, the CCTV footage shows. Others at the scene, who were engrossed in conversation at the time, then rush to the girl to check on her as she begins to cry.
A woman is subsequently heard shouting at the rider, blaming him for hitting the child.
Bernard said the girl was “doing all right” since the accident.
The post has been shared nearly 1,000 times on Facebook and the clip has been reposted to other pages, including the Singapore Uncensored page, where it has been shared more than 400 times. The video has also attracted a slew of angry comments from those in favor of an e-scooter ban.
Among them was a Royston Tan.
“Ban now before more of these happen again and again,” he wrote in reply.
While the rider may not have breached the legal speed limit of 25kph, riders have been banned from using e-scooters in the common areas of most public housing estates. Those found guilty of violating the law may be fined up to S$5,000.
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