A 38-year-old tour bus driver was sentenced to 10 months' jail on Sep. 2 after an 18-year-old cyclist died following a collision in Yishun in 2023.

Yuan Changqing, a Chinese national, was attempting a discretionary left turn along Yishun Ring Road, but did not slow down and collided with Jeffson Tang, according to The Straits Times.

What happened

Yuan, who was working with bus chartering company Leisure Frontier, was driving his tour bus on Jul. 12, 2023 when the incident occurred.

The bus served as a shuttle service between Yishun, Canberra and Sembawang.

According to ST, he had approached a discretionary left turn but failed to slow down and notice that Tang had cycled across the pedestrian crossing.

A discretionary turn is a turn made at signalised junctions without the aid of red-amber-green arrows.

Footage of the incident played in court showed that Yuan did not slow down while attempting the left turn.

He collided with the 18-year-old Malaysian national and only stopped after hearing a sound coming from the bus’ rear left tyre.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sean Teh said that Tang was thrown off his bicycle upon impact from the collision and into the path of the bus, landing under it.

Yuan then called the police after exiting the bus and seeing Tang lying on the ground with blood around his head.

He had sobbed while the video was being shown, reported ST.

Cyclist suffered multiple injuries, pronounced dead at the scene

Tang had sustained head injuries and multiple abrasions to his lower limbs, and was later pronounced dead at the scene.

His father had also attended to him.

An autopsy revealed that Tang's death was caused by head and chest injuries similar to those in motor vehicle accidents.

Yuan apologised to Tang's family during mitigation.

Penalties and other traffic offences

Yuan pleaded guilty to one charge of careless driving causing death.

The offence carries a penalty of up to three years in jail, a maximum fine of S$10,000, or both.

Yuan was given 10 months' jail and also disqualified from all classes of driving licences for eight years.

Between 2019 and 2021, he had also been fined for two counts of careless driving and one count of speeding on three separate occasions.

Yuan said the offences occurred as he had "packed schedules" and thus "kept rushing".

Top photos via Shin Min Daily News & Mothership