Man, 38, dies after car hit traffic light, tree, road divider & overturned in Hougang

A 38-year-old man died after the car he was driving hit a traffic light, mounted a divider and overturned along Hougang Avenue 6 in the early hours of Aug. 7.

The driver was left trapped and unconscious inside the vehicle.

He was freed and taken to hospital, where he later died.

The accident happened at around 4:20am, along the stretch of Hougang Avenue 6 towards Hougang Avenue 10, according to Shin Min Daily News.

Roof cut open to free driver

A member of the public, Long (transliterated), 29, was passing by when he came across the overturned car with the driver unconscious inside.

He said he believed the car had first hit a traffic light before crashing into the divider.

Long said around 10 SCDF officers had to saw open the roof of the car: “After the man was rescued, he was lifted onto a stretcher, and paramedics then began emergency treatment.”

Video footage he provided showed several fire engines and police cars at the scene, with paramedics performing CPR on the driver.

Residents heard a loud crash

Residents living nearby told Shin Min they heard a loud noise at the time of the accident.

Lim (transliterated), 60, a renovation contractor, said she went to check.

She told Shin Min: "There were a lot of onlookers at the time, and the driver was inside the car. I heard his head was bleeding. Someone tried to knock on the window, but he did not respond, so we could only wait for the SCDF to rescue him."

She said the car was only towed away at around 8am.

She added that the car only came to a stop after crashing through railings and hitting a tree.

Debris was scattered up to 100m away.

A traffic light about 150m from the crash site was snapped in two.

The accident caused a jam and motorists had to make a detour.

Police and SCDF respond

In response to Mothership's queries, the police said the car was believed to have self-skidded, and that the driver was conveyed unconscious to hospital, where he later died.

Investigations are ongoing.

SCDF said its officers found a person trapped in the car on arrival, and freed him using hydraulic rescue equipment before taking him to Sengkang General Hospital.