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CAR ACCIDENT AT THE MRT TRACK

Background

On 3 March 2003, a 23-year old drove his Mercedes onto a MRT track, the first of its kind in the 15 years of MRT operations in Singapore. The freak accident occurred when the car, which was travelling at a speed of 87 kilometres an hour along Lentor Avenue (the maximum speed limit was 70 kilometres an hour there), mounted an 18 cm kerb, crossed 6 metres of grass verge (inclusive of a 1.5 metres wide pavement), jumped over a 1.5 metres drain, went through a fence 2 metres away from the track, and went uphill onto a steep stone embankment before landing on the MRT track.

Heroes to the rescue

Soon after the Mercedes landed onto the MRT track, which occurred at around 7.30 pm, a lorry driver happened to witness the freak incident. He gallantly rushed onto the track to help the car driver. After signalling to the oncoming train that was speeding towards the stranded car from the direction of Yio Chu Kang and anticipating that the train would not be able to stop in time to avoid a collision with the car, the lorry driver immediately huddled behind some bushes with the 23-year old car driver.
In the meantime, 10 other good Samaritans happened to be around the area n they also rushed to help move the stranded Mercedes to get it off the track. However, their effort failed as the North bound train came by soon after, foiling their efforts to prevent a collision between the train and the car.
Despite trying to slow down the train after noticing the obstruction on the track, the train driver, Francis Rodrick Julius failed to avoid a collision with the car. This was due to the fact that the train’s braking distance at the speed that it was travelling then was 170 metres while the stranded Mercedes was only 150 metres away from the train. Nevertheless, the prompt and appropriate action by the lorry driver did alerted the train driver and he managed to slow down the train and prevented possible derailment of the train which would lead to a great disaster.


Appropriate risk control actions minimised loss

From the flow chart, we can see that this accident could have ended as a tragedy if nothing had been done that night after the train crashed onto the Mercedes. If the train driver had not been warned beforehand by the lorry driver, the speed at which the train was travelling could have caused the train to derail. The 1,300 passengers on board the train could have been seriously hurt and even killed. A similar accident happened many years ago where a car was stuck in a railway track and a train crashed onto it, derailed and went into a river, resulting in one of the greatest loss in the world.
It was very fortunate indeed that there were a few passers-by who were alert enough to spot the car and reacted immediately. Despite the danger of being knocked down by the oncoming train, 10 of them tried to remove the car from the track so as to prevent the collision.
A lorry driver went over to help the car driver out of the car and signalled to the approaching train of the situation. Although the 10 people were not successful in pushing the car off the track, it was their selfless sacrifice that had reduced the impact of this accident. The train driver, upon noticing the signal sent out by the lorry driver, was able to reduce the speed of the train immediately to reduce the eventual impact of the collision. The collision had only caused the car to be damaged and some debris to be thrown out. This should be a wake up call. However, the authority seems to have missed the point.

After the collision, the MRT driver also did the right thing by first checking the safety of the passengers in the train and at the same time informing them what had happen. This would help in clearing the passengers’ doubts and giving medical aid to any injured passengers. This is an excellent risk control action and helped to calm and control the crowd and prevented the situation from developing into chaos.
Another action that was worth complimenting was the evacuating process. The SMRT was able to evacuate all 1,300 affected passengers within 40 minutes. They were sent to the Yio Chu Kang MRT station, and with the assistance of 100 SMRT staff, boarded 40 shuttle buses and headed home safely. Although the affected passengers were reported as rushing into the buses, this was inevitable as it was the “kiasu” nature of Singaporeans.
In the event of witnessing an accident, it is important for people to remain calm and have a clear mind to react appropriately and quick to the situation. It would make a great difference in the outcome if everyone could bring out his or her selflessness when the situation calls for. This case is a very good example to show this point and it should a lesson to be learnt by all.

Risk Management issues from this incident

The flow chart shows that the prompt and appropriate action of the passer-bys and the train driver saved the day. However, it would have been even better for the lorry driver or any of the other passer-bys to immediately phone the MRT control station before carrying out their rescues action. This could have given the train driver a much earlier warning. He could have possibly slowed down the train earlier and eventually stop before hitting the car.
Many people have expressed concern about the driverless system, even though the driverless train system makes full use of advanced modern computer technology to operate the trains. This helps improve cost efficiencies and operational performance. However, the computerized system might not be a full proof solution when it comes to certain unforeseeable circumstances, such as this particular incident where the car actually landed on the MRT track as this is not an “unexpected” event. Perhaps after this incident, the authority should reconsider whether all trains (MRT and LRT) should have drivers. With the presence of drivers who are trained and skilled in handling emergency situations and contingency problems, there might be a lower probability of an accident occurring. The risk of accidents and unwanted tragedy is also reduced.
The fault tree helps to identify the risks faced in this incident and potential accidents in future. Readers of the Straits Time have mentioned that tougher barriers should be built along the road to prevent similar accidents. Should a driver lose control of his/her vehicle, as in this accident, the barrier alongside the road should be strong enough to counter the huge impact from the vehicle, thus preventing the vehicle from crashing through it. They argued that stronger barriers or barricades should be fixed to ensure the safety of each and every user of the road and public infrastructures. For example, should the fencing be replaced by a more solid wall, at least for the portion of the MRT tracks that are almost on the same level as the roads?
The erection of more solid walls along the road level portion of the MRT tracks would be an excellent solution for minimizing such freak accidents. Walls are more protective barriers as compared to fences, in the event of such unexpected occurrences. However, of the improvement that set the Land Transport Authority (LTA) back by $272,500 the bulk goes towards the construction of a 1.5-metre-high metal mash fence along footpaths around the Bishan station. The fence is meant to stop people from throwing things onto the MRT tracks. It is no assurance to tell commuters that the freak accident is likely to occur once in 129 years. Try telling this to the 1,300 passengers and their loved ones if the train had derailed. Risk management theory tells us that we should be more concerned about severity rather than frequency. Indeed, the accident had happened. If another accident happened in future, we may not be so fortunate and the result could be disastrous.