CNA Explains: How punishments for dangerous and careless driving are set to change

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SINGAPORE: The range of penalties for motorists who drive dangerously or carelessly will change if amendments to the Road Traffic Act are passed. The proposed changes to the law, introduced into ...

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Mandatory minimum punishments\nThe courts will be given more room to reach an appropriate sentence through the removal or reduction of mandatory minimum punishments.\nFor first-time offenders, the proposed changes will remove the mandatory minimum sentence and disqualification period for offences of dangerous or careless driving that cause death or grievous hurt.\nFor repeat offenders, the amended law will halve the mandatory minimum jail sentences for dangerous driving causing death – from four years to two years – and dangerous driving causing grievous hurt – from two years to one year.\nHowever, the mandatory minimum penalties will remain in place for offenders driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.\nThe maximum punishments for these offences will also remain unchanged.\n2. How the offender is charged\nThe prosecution will be given more flexibility to proceed with an appropriate charge against the driver which takes into consideration the severity of hurt caused to the victim.\nSpecifically, prosecutors will be able to proceed with a charge of causing “hurt” and not “grievous hurt”, even if the victim’s injuries meet the legal definition of grievous hurt.\nGrievous hurt is defined under Section 320 of the Penal Code. It can include fractures or dislocations, and when the victim cannot follow his or her ordinary pursuits for at least 20 days.\nThe change would better allow the prosecution to take into account the nature of the injury caused and whether other road users share responsibility for the incident.\n3. “Repeat offender” of speeding\nThe definition of a repeat offender of speeding offences will be narrowed.\nCurrently, a motorist is a repeat offender if he or she has been convicted previously of any one of the following: Dangerous or careless driving, conducting illegal speed trials, or speeding.\nIf the amendments are passed, a motorist will be considered a repeat offender of speeding offences only if he or she:\nHas at least two prior speeding convictions in which the driver sped in excess of 40kmh of the road or the vehicle’s speed limit, and\nAt least two of the prior speeding convictions occurred within the past five years before the motorist’s current driving offence.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhy is this being done now?\nMHA regularly reviews Singapore’s laws. The last time it reviewed Road Traffic Act offences was in 2019.\nThis time, the ministry assessed that it needed to adjust the Act to better balance deterrence and proportionality, which are among the principles that courts follow when giving sentences.\nMHA said the proposed changes make sure that behaviour that is relatively less egregious is not “overly penalised”, while still being able to heavily penalise egregious offenders.\nLawyer Felicia Yeo, associate at Amarjit Sidhu Law, said the proposed changes widen the sentencing spectrum, giving the court more discretion to hand out suitable sentences depending on the offender’s culpability and the harm caused.\nFor instance, courts will be able to give lighter sentences for incidents where other road users also behaved irresponsibly.\nMHA gave the example of a lorry driver who takes a left turn carelessly and hits a cyclist.\nThe cyclist rode from the footpath onto the road without stopping. Under the road traffic rules, a cyclist who crosses a road at any place other than a pedestrian crossing should yield the right of way to all vehicles.\nThe cyclist suffers grievous hurt from the collision – a fracture and abrasions – and gets three days of medical leave.\nUnder the current law, if convicted for careless driving causing grievous hurt, the lorry driver would be disqualified from driving for at least five years, as this is the mandatory minimum.\nIf the proposed changes are passed, this minimum will be removed and the court can determine an appropriate disqualification period considering the full circumstances of the incident.\nLawyer Adrian Wee, managing partner of Lighthouse Law, said giving the prosecution more flexibility to proceed with the appropriate charge is likely a response to a recent High Court decision.\nThe court had ruled that in the current context of the Road Traffic Act, “hurt” and “grievous hurt” are mutually exclusive, and the prosecution cannot reduce a charge of “grievous hurt” to one of “hurt”, Mr Wee said.\n\n\n\n\nDoes it mean going easier on irresponsible drivers?\nStill, the proposed changes have led some to question whether they will more effectively deter traffic offences and make roads safer.\n\"Shouldn't it be the opposite, to raise the mandatory sentences for first timers to prevent more incidents of such nature from happening?\" one user on social media platform Reddit asked.\nIn May, after an accident in Tampines killed two people, Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim said that current penalties are enough to deter dangerous driving and will not be increased.\nLawyers told CNA that the proposal to remove mandatory minimum penalties does not necessarily mean a more lenient stance towards driving offences.\nMr Wee said the proposed amendments do not signal that sentences will be reduced. A key indicator of this is that there are no changes to the maximum penalties for careless and dangerous driving offences.\nThe maximum penalties remain:\nFor dangerous driving – up to eight years in jail for the first offence, and up to 15 years for repeat offenders\nFor careless driving – up to three years in jail for the first offence, and double for repeat offenders\nThese maximum penalties, as well as higher penalties for repeat offenders and those driving under the influence, were introduced after MHA’s last review of the Road Traffic Act in 2019.\nMr Wee said that the proposed changes signify “a more graduated and, in my opinion, fairer approach” towards the prosecution of driving offences.\nMs Yeo described the proposed changes as “safeguards” so that the court does not excessively punish criminal conduct that is less culpable.\nShe said they may also serve as a reminder to road users to “stay calm and continue to abide by the traffic rules and abstain from following suit when they encounter errant drivers”.\nOtherwise, these road users may have to bear the legal consequences too, she said.\n\n\n\n\nWhat else is being done to make roads safer?\nSingapore’s road traffic fatality rate per 100,000 people was 2.3 in 2023. This is the highest since 2016, when the rate was 2.51.\nThere were 131 fatal traffic accidents in 2023, higher than in 2022 and exceeding pre-COVID levels in 2019.\nThe police said there was a significant increase in the number of accidents caused by the motorist’s failure to keep a proper lookout or properly control the vehicle, or by changing lanes without due care.\nThe proposed amendments also seek to strengthen enforcement powers.\nThe powers of Traffic Police to suspend a motorist’s driving licence will be strengthened. This is to close current gaps that would allow a motorist back on the roads while he or she appeals against a conviction or while a sentence has been deferred.\nImmigration officers will also be able to give breathalyser tests at and near border checkpoints, to promptly act against drink drivers entering Singapore.\nMHA said that shaping driver behaviour upstream is also important, and other measures have already been taken towards this.\nThe speed enforcement function in red-light cameras has been progressively activated across Singapore since April.\nSince January, lorries with a maximum laden weight of 3,501kg to 12,000kg have had mandatory speed limiters installed to ensure they do not exceed 60kmh.\nThe proposed legislative changes are due to be debated at the Bill's second reading in parliament.\n\n\n\n\n\nWant an issue or topic explained? Email us at digitalnews [at] mediacorp.com.sg. Your question might become a story on our site.","kind":null,"is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":null,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"0","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":1},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","isDev":false,"isTTM":true,"deviceId":"web-server-community-laohu8-v3","version":"4.29.2","shortVersion":"4.29.2","platform":"web","vendor":"web","appName":"ttm","isIOS":false,"isAndroid":false,"isTiger":false,"isTHS":false,"isWeiXin":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"isWeiBo":false,"isQQ":false,"isBaiduSwan":false,"isBaiduBox":false,"isDingTalk":false,"isToutiao":false,"isOnePlus":false,"isHuaWei":false,"isXiaomi":false,"isXiaomiWebView":false,"isOppo":false,"isVivo":false,"isSamsung":false,"isMobile":false},"href":"/m/news/2483086693"}