Your Law Discovery Website

You have been caught speeding

 

In Singapore, unless indicated, the speed limit is 50 kph. If you exceed the speed limit by more than 40 kph, the offence is not compoundable. It means, if you are caught speeding at 95 kph (in a 50 kph area), you have to go to court to plead guilty and pay a fine (about $600).

You will also get 18 demerit points. If you already have 4 demerit points earlier, you would have accumulated 24 demerit points. Technically, you are already suspended from driving. You may have to attend and pass a one-day driving course (costing around $70). After that, you may be allowed to drive on the condition that you do not commit a traffic offence for a stipulated period.

 

SPEEDING CAN CAUSE SERIOUS PROBLEMS

Recently a man was caught on camera speeding at more than 130kph, exceeding the speed limit of 70kph. Under traffic rules, if a driver exceeds the speed limit by more than 60kph, he will be fined and slapped with 24 demerit points. It means he will be suspended from driving (having reached 24 demerit points). In this case, when the driver received a summons from the traffic police, he filled the form declaring that he was the driver when the offence was committed. In Court, he told the judge that it was his wife who was driving the car at the time of the offence. The judge ordered an investigation into whether false declaration has been made. The police are investigating. A person making false declaration to authorities can be jailed for up to two weeks.

 

A man who was driving his four colleagues home after a late-night party rammed into a highway guard rail while doing 120 kph. The crash killed a passenger and injured the other three passengers. He was sentenced to five months' jail and disqualified from driving any vehicle for 10 years after he had admitted causing the death through a rash act. Two charges of causing hurt by a rash act and one of causing grievous hurt were taken into consideration during the sentencing.

The accident took place in the early hours of Jan 25 as he sped along East Coast Parkway in a Honda Accord. His passengers were asleep. The group had earlier attended a company party at Pasir Ris.

He lost control of his car and it veered to the left of the highway, crashing into the metal railing at the road shoulder. The front of the car mounted the railing and spun in a clockwise direction before coming to a halt, facing oncoming traffic. The impact ejected him and the two-backseat passengers nearest to the doors from the vehicle. The collision was so forceful that the driver's door; front and back bumpers, exhaust pipe, engine and two front wheels were detached from the car.

In mitigation, the defence counsel said that his client and his colleagues were good friends and he was devastated by the tragedy. He could have been jailed for up to two years.

 

raffleslaw@yahoo.com