Kamal Ghorui
35-year-old Rajwinder Singh Grewal was behind the wheels when his car crashed and killed a young passenger
An Indian Uber driver accused of falling asleep at the wheel and causing a fatal crash in Perth has been permitted to work as a truck driver while on bail. He worked a 22-hour shift, reports the The West Australian.35-year-old Rajwinder Singh Grewal was granted permission on Monday to work as a freight driver between 9am and 4pm, subject to a curfew outside those hours. He remains banned from driving passenger transport.The court heard the alleged crash happened on March 28 at about 3.40am in Lynwood, when Grewal was driving a silver Toyota Kluger with a mother and her two young children as passengers. The vehicle hit a tree after he fell asleep at the wheel. A seven-month-old baby died in the crash, while the woman and another child were injured.Grewal is accused of having worked for up to 22 hours before the collision. Police told the court they had obtained dashcam footage from inside the vehicle showing him falling asleep multiple times before the crash.He has been charged with one count of dangerous driving occasioning death and two counts of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm. He has not yet entered pleas and is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on August 11.During Monday’s bail variation hearing, his lawyers said that he had taken breaks throughout the day and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They also said he was not speeding at the time of the incident.Prosecutors say tiredness was the main cause of the crash, and that Grewal was doing both rideshare work and another freight driving job at the same time.An Uber spokesperson said the company “fatigue management processes and tools” that forced drivers to have an 8-hour break from the app after working for 12 cumulative hours, but Grewal was also working a second freight driving job, 7News reported.Following the crash, Grewal was previously working as a rideshare driver and has since been restricted from carrying passengers. Under the new bail conditions, he is permitted to work only as a freight driver within set hours.Grewal left court wearing a cap, sunglasses and a surgical mask and did not respond to questions from reporters.
