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Wakeup call for new bikers Last updated 05 Aug 2003 Back to D'Singapore Scene
Straits Times - 01 August 2003 Prime News One moment of rashness turned lives upside down By Glenys Sim
Today, Mr Lim Koon Heng's head is about the only thing he can hold up. A night out, one drink too many and rainy weather turned the Navy mechanic into a paraplegic. He was flung off his motorcycle while turning right from Maxwell Road into Robinson Road. 'That was the third and last time I drank and rode. I had no feeling from the chest down. I had burns on my hands that I didn't even know about,' the wheelchair-bound man told reporters yesterday. Now 38, he relies on his parents, cleaners aged 66 and 61, to take care of him. 'I need help with the simplest things such as bathing and going to the toilet. All of a sudden, I'm confined to my bed, facing four walls every day,' he added. From today, his story will be told to all new riders in an eight-minute road safety video. It is a sobering clip, with footage of traffic accidents captured along the island's expressways and testimonials of people who have survived accidents. There is another version for drivers. On the video is 'Kenny', 23, who emerged from a motorcycle accident unscathed three years ago, but who lost his pillion rider. The air force mechanic was speeding when he crashed his bike along the Pan-Island Expressway. 'I won't be riding anymore,' he told reporters. 'I never imagined I could cause so much pain and sorrow to others.' Miss Melissa Tan, 36, who lost her fiance in a car accident 14 years ago, appears too. Then 19, her fiance was trying to overtake another vehicle when he lost control. It crashed into the road railings, throwing them out of the car and into a canal. He died, while she now has difficulty speaking and walking. Between January and May this year, 93 people died in road accidents. Of these, 42 were motorcyclists and their pillion riders while 11 were killed in car crashes. The Traffic Police are hoping these true-life stories will make the 60,000 new drivers and riders every year more aware of such mistakes and the high price motorists pay. Those who pass their driving tests at Bukit Batok Driving Centre, Comfort Driving Centre in Ubi and Singapore Safety Driving Centre in Ang Mo Kio, will have to watch the clips before getting licences. Mr Airullnizam Abdul, 20, a student at ITE Bedok, who has a new motorcycle licence, said: ' I never thought about what could happen on the roads. After seeing the video, I think it could also happen to me. The images are scary.' Paraplegic Mr Lim recalls getting his bike licence 20 years ago at age 18. 'The video shows consequences of drink riding I never thought of at that age. 'I used to think so what if I'm paralysed? Even if I can't move my legs, maybe I can still work. But now I can't even use my hands.'
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FOURTEEN years ago,
doctors drilled two holes in his head and stuck rods
inside to hold it up.