There was a narrow gap – barely a car’s width – between the two vehicles travelling on the expressway.
Yet the blue Lamborghini blatantly squeezed through, almost causing an accident, while cutting across the lane before speeding off into the distance.
The entire incident on Oct 1 took less than two seconds.
The Lamborghini driver’s dangerous and reckless act was recorded by an in-car camera and the footage went viral after it was uploaded online last week.
As of 5pm yesterday, the 33-second video, which was originally posted on Facebook by the affected driver, Mr Heng See Meng, and uploaded on other pages, had more than 201,000 combined views and was shared more than 2,300 times.
A police spokesman later confirmed that a 45-year-old man was arrested for dangerous driving in relation to the incident.
IMPOUNDED
The New Paper understands that the man was nabbed on Tuesday, and his vehicle, identified by netizens as a Lamborghini Huracan Spyder, was also impounded.
In the video, Mr Heng, with his family, is driving his car on the rightmost lane of the three-lane East Coast Parkway.
A van is seen just ahead of his car, in the middle lane, with a small gap diagonally between the two vehicles.
Suddenly, the blue Lamborghini zooms up behind the van, weaving and squeezing through the gap between the two vehicles, then overtakes them, cutting to the right lane, and speeding off.
Mr Heng’s car then overtakes the van, switches a lane to the left in front of it, before an orange Lamborghini appears on the rightmost lane and drives into the distance as well.
Mr Heng told The Straits Times Online that it was a “very scary experience”.
“I really hope all drivers respect road discipline and not bring danger to other road users,” he said.
His video also sparked off online outrage against the Lamborghini driver, with netizens condemning his actions.
Many condemned the driver of the supercar for putting himself and the other drivers at risk.
Some also questioned why the driver had not overtaken via the empty left-most lane, while others blamed Mr Heng’s car for hogging the right-most lane.
Road safety experts described the driver’s actions as dangerous and irresponsible.
Singapore Safety Driving Centre’s training manager Gerard Pereira said: “The blue Lamborghini driver appeared to be showing off, unlike (the other Lamborghini driver) who waited for the car (with the in-car camera) to switch a lane to the left before overtaking on the right.
“He should not be on the road if he is this impatient. What kind of driving ethics does he have?”
Accident reconstruction expert Kelvin Koay said: “Had the van slowed down or the other car sped up a little, an accident would have occurred.
“Plus, given the Lamborghini was going faster than the two vehicles, had there been any impact, it could have caused their cars to spin out of control.
“It would have been disastrous.”
If convicted of dangerous driving, an offender can be jailed up to a year and fined up to $3,000.
About the driver
After the video of the blue Lamborghini being driven dangerously was uploaded online last week, netizens embarked on ahunt for the driver.
Some posted photos of the driver and his Facebook profile on various road safety community Facebook groups.
The New Paper understands that the 45-year-old who was arrested for dangerous driving is a Nigerian national who lives here.
Lifestyle news site Covered Asia reported two weeks ago that there was only one customised Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 Spyder in Singapore, and it was sold with an open-category certificate of entitlement of $1.3 million.
Covered Asia also reported that the owner of the Lamborghini Huracan Spyder launched his own swimwear company earlier this year.
We contacted him via Facebook, but he did not respond by press time.
About the Lamborghini Huracan Spyder
Engine 5,204cc 40-valve V10
Top speed 324kmh
0 to 100kmh 3.4 seconds
Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch with manual select
Power 610bhp at 8,250rpm
Torque 560Nm at 6,500rpm
Fuel consumption 12.3 litres/100km
Reuters
This article was first published on October 13, 2016.
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