Eddy Wong is one lucky guy. He was entering the Tuas tunnel last Wednesday when a trailer (registered in Malaysia) swerved suddenly into his lane, crushing his sedan against the wall and dragging it almost halfway into the tunnel. Looking at the wreck, you’d think that no one could have survived it. But Eddy miraculously did, and without injury except bruising to his fingers, which happened post-accident while he was trying to find his phone.
Eddy posted the footage from his dashcam on his Facebook, so you can see for yourself the terrifying moment that it happened:
https://www.facebook.com/eddie.wong.520/videos/10202916238863587/?t=0
Scary.
Eddy was stuck in the car before being rescued, but even he did not realise how bad it looked until he saw pictures of the wreck later. Half of the car had been wedged under the trailer and the other side had somehow climbed onto the ledge of the tunnel wall.
Apparently the car in front of the trailer had slowed down abruptly and the trailer could not slow down fast enough, so the driver steered to the right to avoid a collision. Many internet commenters (many of them Singaporeans) are vilifying the driver of the trailer, along with all drivers from Bolehland (a derisive term referring to Malaysia). Well, unfortunately we cannot leap to the defence of our fellow Malaysians – we are clearly not the most law-abiding or safest drivers in the world. According to the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the braking distance for a trailer is up to more than twice the distance compared to a passenger car:
To put it simply, the trailer was following the car in front too closely.
We’re glad to read that Eddy is doing fine, except that he has hit a snag claiming insurance for his car (which we assume is a total write-off) because the insurance of the wrongful party is from Malaysia. Still, we’re glad you’re okay, Eddy.
image: Free Malaysia Today