More summons issued to drivers who fail to secure goods properly in vehicles

SINGAPORE: More summons have been issued to drivers who failed to properly secure goods in their vehicles.

Traffic Police say 42 summons were issued between January and November this year — more than double the number during the same period last year.

The number of summons last year was 18.

The Singapore Transport Association says one of the reasons for this is the lack of experienced drivers.

Earlier this month, taxi driver Tian Tze Chong had a close shave with an errant lorry driver at the junction of Hougang Avenue and Lorong Ah Soo.

He was driving behind the lorry pick—up, which was transporting marble slabs, when part of the goods fell off the back of the vehicle.

Mr Tian said: "I was waiting behind a truck at this traffic light junction. When the light turned green, I drove behind it. Suddenly, the marble slab on the truck fell off. The driver didn’t stop. I gave chase, but still, he didn’t stop. He even laughed. How can something like that happen? I was very angry. There was nothing I could do but report this to the LTA."

Mr Dave Ng, Chairman of the Singapore Transport Association, said: "Actually we are in serious shortage of drivers, and it’s very difficult to get drivers nowadays. All we have are very senior drivers. We are trying hard to get in new drivers to fill in the gap. The volume of the job has gone up, but the quality of the drivers has gone down — we don’t have enough drivers to cope with the high volume of the work.

"For new drivers who have entered into our industry, we have (a) guidebook to show them how to latch cargo safely before they set off."

Errant drivers face a maximum penalty of a S$150 fine and deduction of three demerit points.

— CNA/de