Drivers, we all enjoy a spot of overtaking from time to time, don’t we?
But have you ever witnessed an electric bicycle determinedly attempting to overtake a bus?
I’m talking about a full-on road race with a bus.
And as a result of failing to keep his emotions in check, a man ended up experiencing life behind bars for three days.
This intriguing tale involves a 39-year-old delivery man, profoundly dissatisfied with a bus driver who had overtaken him at a traffic light.
In response, he pursued the bus on his electric bicycle with a dogged determination.
The bus in question was driven by a 50-year-old named Zhong Guangyan, a transliteration from Chinese.
He was at the helm of the number 222 bus.
This peculiar incident unfolded in February of this year, specifically on 12 Feb, around 10pm.
Our protagonist, the delivery man named Lin Tianfa (also a transliterated name), was navigating the streets of New Upper Changi Road, sharing the same lane as the bus.
Initially, Lin’s bicycle was leading the way, ahead of the bus.
However, Zhong decided to make a move, overtaking the bicycle from the right before coming to a halt at a traffic light.
Feeling slighted by this manoeuvre, Lin rode up to the right side of the bus, tapping on the window, and attempted to engage in a conversation with Zhong.
It’s important to note that this exchange happened amidst the flow of traffic, with passengers aboard the bus.
Understandably, Zhong merely glanced at Lin, offering no verbal response.
As soon as the traffic light signalled green, the bus resumed its journey.
Not one to let things go easily, Lin, fuelled by a sense of injustice, quickly pedalled ahead of the bus, only to then deliberately reduce his speed.
Yet, it didn’t take long for the bus to once again overtake the bicycle.
The drama continued when the bus next stopped at a station to allow passengers to embark and disembark.
Lin seized this opportunity to catch up with the bus once more. He parked his bicycle to the side, approached the bus door, and proceeded to loudly berate Zhong in full view of the passengers.
Zhong, in an attempt to defuse the situation, promptly contacted the SBS Transit Control Center, leading to the police being alerted.
However, by the time the officers arrived, Lin had already vanished from the scene.
So, how did the police eventually catch up with Lin?
It turns out that Lin has a penchant for publicly expressing himself in rather unlawful ways.
On the evening of 30 April, Lin found himself in trouble with the law once again.
He was arrested for causing a disturbance outside a coffee shop in Geylang.
It was then that the police connected the dots, identifying him as the suspect responsible for the earlier verbal assault on the bus driver, and he was subsequently brought before the court.
On Wednesday, 27 Dec, Lin appeared in the State Court.
There, he pleaded guilty to the charge of insulting a public service worker. He was handed a fine of $2,500, according to Lianhe Zaobao.
However, facing financial constraints, Lin opted to serve a three-day jail sentence instead.
Now we know what we can land ourselves into if we act emotionally and impulsively on the road, literally.
Well, at least he didn’t decide to go into some NTUC to rip some bags of rice.