KUALA LUMPUR: A 39-year-old man was fined RM10,000 for failing to use his signal before turning, which led to a collision with a cyclist that resulted in her death four years ago.
The Magistrate Court in Selama, Perak, handed down the decision against Rofizlan Yunus after ruling that he was guilty of driving his Ford Ranger on a road without due care and attention.
Magistrate R. Prabakaran ordered Rofizlan to serve one year imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.
According to the court's judgment, an eye witness testified during the trial that Rofizlan's car and the deceased Norhayati Mohamed Yusof stopped at the intersection near Jalan Lampin 3.
He said Norhayati's bicycle was on the left side of the accused's car, with both vehicles side by side and their fronts aligned.
The witness said he saw the accused's car had turned left without signaling from the intersection and collided with the bicycle, which was also attempting to turn left at the same time.
He said the bicyclist fell, and the left rear tyre of the accused's car ran over the deceased, dragging the bicycle underneath the front left tyre of the accused's car.
According to the postmortem report, Norhayati succumbed to fractures of the second and third ribs on the right side and the third, fourth, and fifth ribs on the left side as a result of the accident.
Subsequently, Rofizlan was charged under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act (RTA) for reckless driving.
However, Prabakaran said after evaluating all the evidence, the court concluded that while it was not safe to convict the accused for reckless driving, the evidence was sufficient to convict him under Section 43(1) of the Road Transport for driving without due care and attention.
The offence carries a fine of between RM4,000 and RM10,000 and a maximum one year's jail upon conviction
"The accused stopped at the junction before turning left without using his signal, indicating that he was not driving recklessly since he took the precaution of stopping his car before making the turn.
"However, he then drove on without taking due care of caution by not using the signal light when he was turning"
"This is a clear signal of reckless driving," he said in his judgment, which was uploaded on the judiciary department's website yesterday.
He said the accused should have exercised greater due care and attention before turning, especially since he was aware that the deceased was on the left side of his car.
"The failure to signal while turning further underscores a lack of due care and attention towards other road users.
"Although these facts do not amount to reckless driving, they clearly demonstrate that the accused failed to take necessary precautions to ensure the road was clear before turning," he said.
The court also found contributory negligence on the part of the deceased, which led to the incident, due to the fact that the bicycle was very old, rusty, and had non-functional brakes.
He said the poor condition of the bicycle, which was not disputed by the prosecution, was significant as it raised doubts about whether the non-functional brakes, in particular, may have contributed to the accident.
Deputy public prosecutor Nor Arfahanim Azureen Arfanuddin prosecuted while lawyer Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail appeared for the accused.