Car hit by falling tree on SLE, another overturns in Choa Chu Kang

Ang Qing and Wallace Woon
The Straits Times
Sept 14, 2023

A tree on a road divider suddenly came crashing down on a passing car on the Seletar Expressway (SLE) on Wednesday, missing by a few seconds three motorcycles that were following close behind.

In response to queries, a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said it received a call for help at about 7.10pm.

The car was heading in the direction of the Bukit Timah Expressway when the tree fell on it, before the Woodlands Avenue 2 exit.

One person was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, the SCDF spokesman added.

On footage uploaded on the SG Road Vigilante YouTube channel, the tree can be seen hitting a black car as it falls, and obstructing the outermost lane of the SLE. Three motorcycles can then be seen avoiding the fallen tree.

Some distance away, the driver of the black car switches the car’s hazard lights on and the car slows down.

Separately, a 63-year-old driver was taken to hospital on Thursday after an accident on Choa Chu Kang Way that left his car overturned.

SCDF was alerted to the accident at about 6.50am.

The man was conscious when taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, the police and SCDF said in a statement.

In dashcam footage from a passing vehicle uploaded on sgfollowsall’s Instagram account, a fire engine and an ambulance can be seen at the right-most lane of the road near a mangled car that had flipped upside down.

@mahmudliton1

Contacted, the National Parks Board said it was alerted to the incident at 7.46am. The uprooted tree was an Australian Flame Tree, it added.

“As the tree had been moved to the centre divider and was not obstructing traffic, it was cleared on the morning of Sept 14 2023,” NParks said.

The board said it has a comprehensive tree management programme, with a rigorous regime of inspections and pruning, and aided by technology such as wireless tree tilt sensors. Trees are generally inspected once in six to 24 months, and regularly pruned to improve its structure and balance.

“With the strengthening of our tree management regime over the years, the annual number of tree incidents has fallen from about 3,100 cases in year 2001 to around 480 in 2022, with an average of around 400 cases reported annually since 2019,” NParks said.

The police are investigating the accident.