King’s Road was packed with shoppers and restuarant-goers when an 84-year-old taxi driver smashed through a pedestrian crossing

An 84-year-old taxi driver lost control of his cab and ploughed into three pedestrians before smashing into a traffic light on busy King’s Road at 1pm this afternoon.

Dashcam footage shows the driver coming down Fortress Hill Road at some speed, charging through a “green man” pedestrian crossing and onto King’s Road. At least one pedestrian was dragged around 15 metres under the cab onto King’s Road, falling free as the taxi plunged into a traffic light.

Two of the injured pedestrians, women aged 48 and 59, were critically injured and rushed to East District Hospital unconscious. Another pedestrian and the taxi passenger were sent conscious to East District Hospital while the driver, complaining of chest pain, was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital.

Police say the taxi driver was arrested for dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm, while there are no updates on the condition of the injured.

Last week, a 71-year-old taxi driver injured two when he lost control on the 3 Garden Road access road and smashed into an escalator.

There were 4,359 crashes involving taxis in 2021, the last year for which data is available, accounting for 23.2% of all traffic crashes. Three-quarters of those crashes involved taxi drivers aged 50 or over, and almost half involved drivers aged 60 or over.

This story was updated at 19:42 to reflect the police update on the arrest of the taxi driver