Bus driver has 'phobia' after near-accident with jaywalker who had headphones on

Sheo Chiong Teng
The Straits Times
Mar 5, 2025

A bus driver who narrowly avoided hitting a jaywalking pedestrian last September hopes people will pay more attention to their surroundings when crossing roads and keep their earpiece volume low.

SMRT bus driver Jakeabel Anthony Dass, who drives bus service 972, spoke with reporters on March 3 about the incident which happened on Sept 13, 2024 at Orchard Turn, a two-lane road located behind Ngee Ann City and Wisma Atria.

Dashcam footage of the incident, which was uploaded to Facebook and went viral online, shows a pedestrian wearing headphones and jaywalking without looking out for oncoming traffic, causing her to walk straight into the path of a bus.

Mr Jakeabel, 39, said: "When you're crossing the road, don't put your (earpiece) volume too high. Turn it down lower, so you can hear the vehicles around you. Especially when it is crowded, you must stay safe and look before crossing. Don't jaywalk."

Recounting the incident, he said he saw the pedestrian cross the first lane of the road from his right, and thought she would stop at the double white line in the centre of the road for the bus to pass.

Despite this, he took precautions and slowed down as he approached and put his foot on the brake pedal.

"I sounded the bus horn multiple times to warn her. Even the car (driving) opposite pressed the horn, but she just continued walking," the bus driver recounted.

The pedestrian got so close to the bus that its collision warning system sounded an alarm.

Distracted jaywalker almost unalived herself. Vid: Gary

Posted by ROADS.sg on Saturday 14 September 2024

At the same moment, Mr Jakeabel jammed the brakes to avoid hitting her. The sudden stop caused the bus to jerk and two of its passengers to fall.

Thankfully, no passengers were injured.

Mr Jakeabel, who has been driving a bus for almost nine years, told reporters he has encountered other near-misses with pedestrians, but no one else had been as close to the bus as the woman in this incident.

"This incident made me have a phobia... Now, when I drive by Takashimaya, I'm less confident and more alert," he said.

A task force scrutinising the safety of public buses on March 5 recommended equipping Singapore's entire bus fleet with a 360-degree collision warning system with artificial intelligence and an anti-fatigue system, among other safety improvements.

The Government accepted the task force's recommendations during the debate on MOT's budget.

Many public buses here have already leveraged safety technology systems.

Besides the collision warning system, SMRT said in 2024 that it also had a telematics system in its bus fleet that scans for driver fatigue, among other features.

The Straits Times reported in 2024 that SBS Transit was running a pilot trial of a 360-degree advanced collision warning system on some of its buses.

At Tower Transit Singapore, all 775 of its buses are equipped with a telematics system. A collision warning system is found on 718 of these buses, and the anti-fatigue system is found on 133 buses.

The telematics system tracks the bus driver's driving practices, including braking and acceleration speed as well as instances of speeding.

The collision warning system looks out for any vehicles or pedestrians that may be near the bus.

The anti-fatigue system, using eye-tracking technology, provides audio and visual alerts when it detects that a bus driver may be fatigued or distracted.

Tower Transit bus driver Mohammed Syazwan Mohammed Salim drives bus service 858, a loop service that starts and ends in Woodlands after travelling to Changi Airport - it is the longest bus route in Singapore, taking three hours to complete.

He told ST that such safety systems have helped him to be more alert during the long journey.

"The technology acts as a deterrence. We have this mindset to not trigger the alert, so we drive as safely as possible and stay focused," said the 27-year-old.

In his speech at the debate on the Ministry of Transport's (MOT) budget on March 5, Minister of State for Transport and Law Murali Pillai cited Mr Syazwan as one of the bus drivers who experienced first-hand how anti-fatigue systems can improve road safety.

"The system actively prompted him when he yawned, which was useful in maintaining his alertness while driving, and ensured the safety of the bus captain as well as commuters," Mr Murali said.

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