MOTORIST Tay Lay Hong turned right into Bukit Batok East Avenue 6 while the traffic lights showed amber and before the green arrow allowing her to turn came on, at about 10am on Sept 14 last year.

She collided with a motorcyclist travelling from Bukit Batok Street 25 to Bukit Batok East Avenue 2.

On Thursday, the 45-year-old housewife pleaded guilty to driving negligently and causing the death of fulltime NSman Liu Xiawei, 21, and was fined $8,000.

In pleading for leniency, her lawyer, Ms Tan Gee Tuan, showed District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim a report in The Straits Times of Oct 31 last year that named the junction as one of the six 'Danger Zones' for motorcyclists identified by the Traffic Police.

Quoting from the newspaper report, Ms Tan said: 'Avenue 6 is wide and slopes downwards, so bikes tend to speed' and that the 'line of sight for some right-turning vehicles of oncoming motorists may be blocked'.

The court heard that while Tay had obtained her driving licence in 1991, she had been driving for 13 years and had maintained a clean record.

Tay, who was in court with family members, had also developed 'a reactive depression with marked anxiety' according to a psychiatrist report.

Her husband is a marine engineer, and they have three children, aged 10, 22 and 23.

Tay was also disqualified from driving all vehicles for five years.

Her lawyer had told the court earlier that she had given up driving after the accident.

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