Ferrari driver complained of lack of roads here for high-speed driving

SINGAPORE - Mr Ma Chi, 31, who passed away after his red Ferrari crashed into a taxi while he was speeding to beat the red light, reportedly told an ex-colleague that he had no intention to stay in Singapore long-term as there was no place to drive his supercar at high speeds.

"The Lion City's too small, with no roads for driving at high speed," he told former colleague Zhong Yi in 2009.

According to The Beijing News, friends had mentioned that Mr Ma liked to drive in the middle of the night because there were less cars on the road.

The Straits Times reported that he owns another luxury sports car - an Infiniti, which costs at least 400,000 yuan (S$79,600). He keeps the car in his native province of Sichuan.

According to the English daily, Mr Ma first came to Singapore four years ago with his wife and child in 2008.

Friends said he was a hard-working and righteous person who worked as a financial investor. He was also applying for permanent residency in Singapore.

He died at the scene on May 4 while cabby Cheng Teck Hock and passenger Shigemi Ito died in hospital.

Mr Zhong said he himself had been in a car accident back in 2003, when he had been driving too fast and suffered a concussion from the accident.

He told Beijing News that he regretted not telling Mr Ma about, and sharing lessons learnt from the unfortunate experience.

Ferrari crash junction, red light rogues still beat light

The junction where the accident occurred is notorious for motorists running the red light.

Netizens have claimed that, as a result, there have been countless near misses at the junction of Victoria Street and Rochor Road.

Just two Saturdays ago, three people were killed after a Ferrari driver allegedly ignored a red light there before crashing into a taxi.

The Ferrari driver, Mr Ma Chi, 31, a Chinese national, died at the scene.

The taxi driver, Mr Cheng Teck Hock, 52, and his Japanese passenger, Ms Shigemi Ito, 41, died in hospital.

The situation is worse on Fridays and Saturdays, netizens said, as revellers leave watering holes at places like Boat Quay and Orchard Road and head down Victoria Street towards Kallang.

Two weeks after the accident, The New Paper waited at the same junction from 1am to 4am on Saturday. How bad was it?

Despite the accident, some motorists still blatantly beat the red lights at the junction.

Three cars, two taxis and a motorcycle ran the light when TNP was at the junction.

The first offender, a motorcyclist, was spotted at 1.30am.

He rode down Victoria Street and turned left into Rochor Road even though the light had turned red.

Traffic at the junction became less heavy soon after.

But between 3am and 4am, as clubbers left from a night of partying, the roads became crowded again with cars revving their engines.

Most of the vehicles were travelling from the city down Victoria Street towards Kallang.

A dark-coloured car beat the red light at 3am about five seconds after it changed from green.

About 15 minutes later, another car and a taxi were seen doing the same.

A light-coloured car, this time travelling from the East Coast Parkway down Rochor Road, beat the red light soon after at 3.25am.

About five minutes after this, another taxi travelling down Victoria Street was spotted doing likewise as it turned into Rochor Road.

No camera 

The junction isn't fitted with a red-light camera.

The offence of jumping a red light carries a six- month jail term.

But first offenders are usually fined up to $1,000 and given 12 demerit points. Any motorist who accumulates 24 or more demerit points within two years will be barred from driving for a year.

Motorists whom TNP spoke to said that another accident at the junction is imminent if fellow road users continue beating the red light there.

One motorist, Mr Trevor Chan, 36, who works in the sales line, said: "Maybe it's time that the authorities install a red-light camera at the junction. Only then would motorists stop breaking the law there."

A primary school teacher, who declined to be named, felt the same way.

"This is the only way to stop these irresponsible motorists from breaking the law," she said.

Japanese passenger killed in horror crash identified

SINGAPORE - The passenger in a taxi that was hit by a Ferrari which crashed into it on Saturday has been identified.

Ms Shigemi Ito, who is believed to be in her 20s, was sent to the Singapore General Hospital after the accident at Bugis, but died shortly after.

Her parents and brother were seen at a funeral parlour at Sin Ming drive on Monday, where her wake was being held, reported The Straits Times. They declined to speak to the media.

Ms Ito was working and living in Singapore.

Friends of Ms Ito received an SMS yesterday from a man who signed off as T.C. Thio, informing them of her death and details of the wake.

The man also said in the message that he was her boyfriend.

The three-vehicle accident which involved a Ferrari, taxi and motorcycle also claimed two other lives - Ferrari driver Mr Ma Chi, 31, a private investor from Sichuan, and cabby Cheng Teck Hock, 52.

Mr Ma's female companion, believed to be in her 20s, is reportedly in stable condition at Tan Tock Seng hospital.