By Kimberly Spykerman

A CAR rammed into a tree in Bedok yesterday morning, leaving the driver with serious head injuries in the second such major accident in just over a week.

Police said the black Mitsubishi Lancer skidded off Bedok North Road around 11am, slamming into the tree.

The impact crushed the driver's side of the car, trapping a man in his late 20s inside.

Rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force used a hydraulic cutter to free the man, who also suffered multiple cuts on his legs.

On Thursday last week, two men died when the Subaru WRX they were in hit a tree along Guillemard Road, splitting the car in half.

Yesterday, the accident left the Mitsubishi in a mangled heap. One half of the windscreen was completely shattered, while the rest lay in shards in a nearby ditch, alongside the rear-view mirror and licence plate.

The bumper had also been completely ripped off.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

A 2006 study by the International Society of Arboriculture, a group that studies the growth and development of trees, found that drivers and passengers are more likely to be injured in an accident with a tree than another car.

That is because trees are stationary, rigid and do not absorb the impact of a crash.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 25, 2008.

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