A controversial case in Malaysia has seen a 24-year-old woman released without charge after her car ploughed into a group of cyclists, killing eight of them.
The tragic incident happened way back February 2017, when at 3.30am on a Saturday morning in the Middle Ring Road in the city of Johor Bahru, Sam Ke Ting's car hit a large group of male cyclists aged between 13 and 16. Six died at the scene, a further two died on the way to the hospital and several more were injured. Initial investigations revealed Ke Ting wasn't drunk and wasn't speeding, but failed to brake in time. Groups of youths were known to ride modified bikes on Johor Bahru's highways at night, because there were few cars around.
Two and a half years on, and The Star report that Magistrate Siti Hajar Ali has ruled the prosecution failed to prove a case against Sam Ke Ting, with the police investigation incomplete and not comprehensive after reviewing statements from 46 witnesses. She also ordered that Ke Ting's suspended driving license and RM10,000 bail be returned immediately.
Siti Hajar said in her judgment: "The accused could not be prosecuted based on the failure of the investigation officer to investigate the case properly.
"The accused had the rights to drive her car and had driven her vehicle within the speed limit, was not driving while using her phone, was not drunk and was using a car seat belt.
"It is impossible for the accused to have predicted the whereabouts of the group of teenagers behind the road hill at 3am in the morning.
"The victims had also failed to equip themselves with proper safety equipment such as a light reflection jacket and a bicycle helmet."
If Ke Ting had have been convicted of ramming the group, she could have faced up to ten years' imprisonment.
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14 comments
Kudos to the kid but you can't tell if the other cyclists are something like 150miles into a 200miler
Looking into the world’s best cycling cities thing, it seems not to be from the world economic forum but compiled by an insurance firm? The full list is a ranking of 90 cities, and putting Melbourne and Sydney ahead of other far more progressive cities ruins the ranking’s credibility.
Given how totally open and not-at-all-corrupt Malaysia is alleged to be, I wonder to whom Sam Ke Ting is related?
Good segment strategy kid, come at it fresh with high cadence.
Haha, I wonder what hurt most for the roadies, the lactic acid burn or their pride! The kid had the right bike for that climb though, those 20” mountain bikes have some seriously low gearing.
Malaysian driver
"The hilly road conditions had limit the line of sight of the road user," she said, adding that the group had gathered behind the hill to race on the road that had dim lighting.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/10/28/court-orders-release-o...
So much for being able to stop in the distance you can see. What would the outcome have been if she hit a parked car ?
Oh, FFS!
The best thing about is that you use your hands. I mean, nobody's ever thought of using their hands to signal on a bike...
deleted.
"An artwork featuring 69 red bicycle wheels, thought to have been stolen, is in safekeeping after Bath & North East Council tracked it down."
I think they meant to say they took it down, then came up with some lame excuse about health and safety. How could that awareness-raising art installation possibly be unsafe? They just didn't want attention drawn to the pollution in the city, about which they have done - what?
I bl00dy well knew that's what had happened! - BANES took it, then when it became a media issue they kept veeery quiet hoping nobody would find out, and then when the police got involved then suddenly it's a H&S matter...
Indeed - from the original
Well, I am a very stable genius and I often write things before I even know I have.
(Forgot I wrote that - thanks, hirsute!)
If only they would act so quickly about the H&S problem of air quality