Driver and front seat passenger survived when car plunged into a ditch along Old Upper Thomson Road. <!-- Author --> By Carolyn Quek , Diana Othman and Teh Joo Lin <!-- more than 7 paragraphs --><!-- show image if available -->

<!-- story content : start -->A LATE night spin for four buddies on what used to be a Grand Prix track here came to a tragic end when the car plunged more than one metre down a slope, and slammed sideways into trees, killing two of them in the back seat.

The two dead passengers - both students of Nanyang Polytechnic, were apparently not wearing seatbelts. The driver, a Republic Polytechnic student and front passenger, also from Nanyang Poly, survived with injuries.

The car was travelling along Old Upper Thomson Road towards Seletar Expressway when the accident happened at about 11.45 pm on Tuesday, police said.

While negotiating a curve not far away from what is famously known as Devil's Bend, the car went off road and moments later, plunged more than a metre down slope before hitting one of the trees in the wooded area.

The four youths, aged between 18 and 20, were trapped in the Mitsubishi Lancer, and rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force had to extricate them.

Mr David Li, 18, suffered head injuries and died on the spot. His friend, Mr Mervin Teo, 19, who was found slumped over him, was taken unconscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where he died at 1.20am.

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<!-- Background Story --> The 20-year-old driver and front seat passenger, Mr Tan Han Leng, 20, were sent to Singapore General Hospital. The driver was discharged on Wednesday morning, while Mr Tan suffered cuts and underwent surgery for injuries to his left hand.

Recounting the accident from his hospital bed at SGH, Mr Tan told The Straits Times soon after he emerged from an operation to his injured left hand, that his group of four, together with another two friends who were in another car, had earlier gone for supper at a roti prata restaurant in Thomson Road to celebrate their friend passing his driving test.

Mr Toh Tian Boon, also a Nanyang Polytechnic student, who had just cleared his driving test, then asked where he could try out his newly acquired driving skills.

Mr Tan said he suggested the nearby former Grand Prix track at Old Upper Thomson Road, which he warned the group was 'notorious for accidents' and advised them to belt up.

After driving one round, Mr Toh left the four as he had to send his passenger, a girl student from Nanyang Polytechynic, home.

Mr Tan said his group decided to go for another spin as they felt 'bored'. That was when the tragedy struck.

'Our car suddenly skidded. For a few moments, I felt weightless. Next, I remember the car landing on its sides,' Mr Tan, who was the front seat passenger, recalled.

'I called out to my two friends sitting at the back. There was no response from them, except heavy breathing.'

Mr Tan's mother, Madam Linda Loh, 58, an administrator, said she was told of the accident when her son called her on his mobile phone from the scene after midnight.

'He sounded panicky and just told me 'Mom. Accident. I am okay but my two friends are critically injured. He just hanged up,' she told The Straits Times while waiting for her son to come out of operation at SGH on Wednesday afternoon.

Madam Loh said the four friends were 'as close as brothers' and often went out together.

Mr Li was cremated at Mandai Crematorium on Wednesday afternoon.

Friends remember him as 'chubby and cheerful'. Mr Hoe Guofeng, a full-time national serviceman, 22, who was in the same basketball group as Mr Li about seven years ago, said: 'In our eyes, he was always a cute and chubby kid as he was the youngest in our clique.'

'He was very chatty, always cheerful and entertaining. You will never meet as cheerful a friend as him.'

Friends of Mr Li from Nanyang Polytechnic and his alma mater, Mayflower Secondary School, paid their last respects to him at Mandai Crematorium.

His distraught elder brother, Dennis, 27, an operations assistant, said he last saw Mr Li at home at about 8.30 pm on Tuesday night before he went out to meet his friends.

Miss Judy Chen Nien Tsu, 29, an adult student from Nanyang Poly, described Mr Li and Mr Teo as 'easy-going and fun-loving, with positive attitudes'.

Mr Li's old schoolmate at Mayflower, Mr Farid Rahmad, 18, added: 'He's a joker. He loved to joke and often made us laugh.'

Anyone with information on the accident can call the traffic police at 1800-547-1818.

that bend claimed many cars and people. i still go there for spins, but i will always watch my speed as that place is notorious.

 

poor guys, so young, still have a bright future ahead of them. RIP

R.I.P.

Why of all place must go there?

tofu also encountered a near-off-road incident there last time hor?

Belting up could've saved their lives... this is a really sad example :(

I think it's time for them to change the minimum driving age to 21.

in the local rag, they said the car was going at 50 - 60 km/h

uhh.. how to lose control at 50 to 60km/h?

 

is this place really "spirited" or what?

i shud come here one day and just drive thru slowlyyy...

Originally posted by the Bear:

in the local rag, they said the car was going at 50 - 60 km/h

uhh.. how to lose control at 50 to 60km/h?

 

 

hmmm 5 years ago.. i was navigating the CTE to TPE bend before Jalan Kayu at about 60 km/h. My car spinned out of control. it was not a wet road. The car hit many sides of the tunnel and ended up with me facing oncoming traffic. amazingly.. hmm.. my car needed to be scrapped but I had no injuries.

 

 

Originally posted by the Bear:

in the local rag, they said the car was going at 50 - 60 km/h

uhh.. how to lose control at 50 to 60km/h?

 

eh... its easy to lose control if u are navigating a bend...

have u been to that stretch of road..??

u can do it sometime.. and try cornering it at the same speed...

Originally posted by ShrodingersCat:

 

hmmm 5 years ago.. i was navigating the CTE to TPE bend before Jalan Kayu at about 60 km/h. My car spinned out of control. it was not a wet road. The car hit many sides of the tunnel and ended up with me facing oncoming traffic. amazingly.. hmm.. my car needed to be scrapped but I had no injuries.

 i'm glad you're okay.. did you check the car? sudden puncture, any mechanical failures?

and i wonder about that car too.. any mechanical failures?

Originally posted by the Bear:

 i'm glad you're okay.. did you check the car? sudden puncture, any mechanical failures?

and i wonder about that car too.. any mechanical failures?

No idea.. very luckily my car (it was a toyota) hit the tunnels at the corners so the car absorbed most of the shock.. if the car had slammed the walls of the tunnel sideways.. then i think I won't be able to tahan the backlash...

 

Could be a mechanical failure... the breaks sort of 'jammed' and everything was sort of in slow motion. No puncture. But its an old car.

 

 but when EMAS came to 'rescue' my car.. they told me that curve happens very often. Of course.. the recommended speed is 40-50 km/h which I adhere to like siao liao. :P

 

So.. Hmm.. for everyone else here.. hmm don't speed ba. Sometimes it isn't about your skill in driving...

 

 

 

I think the driver crashed because he watched too much initial d or racing shows so he went to drive at the edge of the road instead of the middle. If it was a 500m cliff instead of a 1m slope, this accident might have been avoided.

errr.. since that bend always so dangerous, den shouldn't LTA do something about that bend?

looks liek tat bend is quite dangerous... jz yday or so another forumer oso kenna accident there... any warning signs to slow down to minimum speed there?

as for the ppl who died in accident, RIP... hope tis is a warning to those initial d wannabe not to speed....

maybe carmakers shld install airbags at its backseats too..

at least like tat got chances to escape death

 

Originally posted by BrUtUs:

looks liek tat bend is quite dangerous... jz yday or so another forumer oso kenna accident there... any warning signs to slow down to minimum speed there?

as for the ppl who died in accident, RIP... hope tis is a warning to those initial d wannabe not to speed....

yeah, just recently there was one forumer kenna there, but not that chia lat as this one. looks like this time, someone was doing some stunts which resulted in what it is now.

young people when you drive, don't put other people's lives at risk.
this include the lives of your passengers and the pedestrains.
be responsible drivers.

mypaper got pic....morning i read. haiz..sad....

Originally posted by Rejected:

I think it's time for them to change the minimum driving age to 21.

quite impossible as the military would need guys aged 18 to drive..

on the other hand, they can allow military driving license to be 18 and only can be converted with a clockable mileage and of age 21.

but wouldnt driving centres lose alot of $? hmmm.. but i think my suggestion is quite good.. but nevertheless, even at 21, when u think more maturely, we still do silly things.

heard from people saying that, the present so called 'devil bend' was a racing track in the past but too many accident occurred. been there few times and the road was full of sand.. my friend fall when cornering.. guess too much sands caused him to ski.. but luckily, not much injuries.

yeah, just recently there was one forumer kenna there, but not that chia lat as this one. looks like this time, someone was doing some stunts which resulted in what it is now.

maybe theres something untold... the passenger reali suffer due to watever happened...

Do you think they went out of control because of oil on the ground?

You can't see oil on the ground if it's dark

refer to my thread "A Painful Lesson To Share", both of the victims were close to me. Mervin is my cousin and David is my friend, sad to lose them.

I hope this is a reminder to all youngster that speeding is REALLY dangerous.