Coroner: Driver’s fatigue, lack of awareness possibly reason for 2017 NZ car crash that killed SG couple

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Singapore—In an update to the 2017 car crash in New Zealand that killed a Singaporean couple, the coroner has said that the man, Mr Chin Tze Hau, 38, might have been fatigued and drove without awareness at the time of the accident.

The couple had taken an overnight flight that arrived in New Zealand at around 8.30 am on May 4, 2017.

Their trip had taken almost 10 hours.

By 10.30 am, they took a hired camper van and Mr Chin started driving.

A head-on collision with a truck shortly after 1 pm killed Mr Chin and his wife, Ms Ong See Yee. They had been married for six years and had taken the trip to New Zealand to celebrate Ms Ong’s 29th birthday.

In her report issued last month, New Zealand coroner Anna Tutton said, “The (NZ) police considered that Mr Chin may have been fatigued and was either driving without awareness or having a micro-sleep at the time of the accident,” according to a straitstimes.com (ST) report.

Based on her findings late last year, she also said, “Ms Ong and Mr Chin were provided with advice to get good quality sleep after a long flight. The dangers of driving while fatigued are evidenced by their deaths.”

Mr Chin and Ms Ong died on impact when the camper van they had hired collided with the truck.

The accident happened on State Highway 1 near Bankside, about 40 km south of Christchurch.

The high-energy impact injuries to their heads and upper bodies took the lives of the couple, while the driver of the truck sustained an injury to his arm.

ST reports that shortly before the accident occurred, the camper van driven by Mr Chin started to swerve off of the road. When he tried to correct it, it turned onto its side.

It then crashed into a “ute” (a utility vehicle like a pickup truck).

According to Ms Sutton, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has said that in cases of fatigue, what a person needs to do is stop and get some good sleep.

She added that the NZTA also says that if an overnight stop is impractical, drivers should take a break every 100 km or every two hours.

The NZTA said the following are the signs of fatigue: difficulty in maintaining focus, holding one’s head upright, keeping one’s eyes open, daydreaming, wandering, loss of memory or disconnected thoughts.

If a driver is repeatedly rubbing their eyes or yawning, swerving lanes, tailgating or feelings of irritability and restlessness, that also indicates fatigue.

The couple had both worked in Kaki Bukit at an audio-visual products company. Mr Chin had worked as a technical director and his wife had been an operations executive.

验尸官：驾驶员的疲劳感，缺乏意识可能是2017年新西兰车祸导致SG夫妇丧生的原因

新加坡—死因裁判官说，在2017年新西兰发生的一起撞车事故中，新加坡一对夫妇丧生，死因裁判官说，这名男子38岁的钱子厚先生可能在事故发生时感到疲倦，开车时不知情。

这对夫妻进行了过夜飞行，于2017年5月4日上午8.30左右抵达新西兰。

他们的旅程花了将近10个小时。

到了上午10.30，他们乘坐了一辆露营车，钱先生开始开车。

下午1点后不久与卡车发生正面碰撞，杀死了Chin先生和他的妻子Ong See Yee女士。他们结婚已有六年，并已去新西兰庆祝Ong女士29岁生日。

新西兰验尸官安娜·图顿（Anna Tutton）在上个月发布的报告中说：“新西兰警察认为，钦先生可能已经很疲劳，在事故发生时要么开车不知情，要么微睡。”一个straitstimes.com（ST）的报告。

根据去年下半年的调查结果，她还说：“王女士和钦先生得到了长途飞行后获得良好睡眠质量的建议。疲劳导致的死亡证明了他们的死亡。”

当他们雇用的露营车与卡车相撞时，秦先生和王女士因撞击而死亡。

事故发生在克赖斯特彻奇以南约40公里的班赛德附近的1号国道上。

他们的头部和上半身受到高能冲击伤害，夺去了这对夫妇的生命，而卡车司机的手臂则受伤。

ST报道，在事故发生前不久，由钦先生驾驶的露营车开始转向道路。当他试图纠正它时，它转向它的侧面。