Proposed changes to Singapore's traffic rules to prevent some offenders from being overly punished

SINGAPORE — Road users who cause accidents leading to death or serious injuries will face the full force of the law and can be handed maximum jail sentences.

To prevent less egregious offenders from being overly punished, as other road users might have also contributed to the accident, changes in the traffic rules are being proposed.

This will allow the courts to have more discretion in sentencing these offenders.

To achieve this, the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill was introduced for first reading in Parliament on Monday (Nov 11).

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One of the proposed changes is the removal of mandatory minimum sentences for first-time offenders who commit dangerous driving offences that cause grievous hurt or death, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a press release.

Currently, these offences have mandatory minimum sentences of one to two years.

These will be removed, and the maximum penalties will remain at five years' jail for causing grievous hurt and eight years' jail for causing death.

The mandatory minimum disqualification periods — currently between five and 10 years — will also be removed.

MHA gave the example of a taxi driver who failed to conform to a red traffic light signal at a T-junction at Bukit Batok West and collided into an oncoming car which had the right of way.

The victim sustained neck and shoulder pain, with numbness in half of his body. He got 25 days' medical leave, and made a full recovery.

MHA said while this was considered "grievous hurt" due to the victim receiving at least 20 days of medical leave, the overall injury was not severe.

If the accused had been convicted for dangerous driving causing grievous hurt, he would have been handed a mandatory minimum imprisonment term of one year and a mandatory minimum disqualification order of eight years.

With the proposed amendments, if convicted for the same offence, the mandatory minimum sentence and mandatory minimum disqualification period will no longer apply.

MHA said the Courts will consider the full circumstances of the case and determine an appropriate sentence.

For repeat offenders, MHA is looking to lower the mandatory minimum sentences for dangerous driving offences causing grievous hurt from two years to one year's jail.

And for dangerous driving offences causing death from four years' to two years' jail.

The maximum penalties will remain at 10 years' jail for causing grievous hurt and 15 years' jail for causing death.

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On these proposed changes, MHA said: "This will provide the Courts with discretion to mete out lower sentences where the circumstances merit. For example, for first-time offenders or in cases where other road users were partly responsible for the accident."

It said the amendments will not affect offences involving driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

MHA said these changes are part of its regular review of the laws to ensure they remain effective.

The Road Traffic Act was last amended in 2019, when MHA increased maximum imprisonment terms and fines, for offences causing death and grievous hurt.

There were also higher penalties for repeat and serious offenders, that is, those who drove under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

MHA said its latest review retains all of these 2019 amendments.

This review comes amid a worsening road traffic situation.

In the first half of 2024, 73 people died — two more than the 71 deaths in the same period last year.

The number of fatal speeding-related accidents jumped from 13 in the first half of 2023 to 25 cases in the same period of 2024.

As for fatal drink-driving accidents, it went from eight in the first half of 2023 to nine in the same period of 2024.

To improve road safety, some measures were recently introduced.

These included the mandatory installation of speed limiters in lorries with a maximum laden weight of between 3.5 tonnes and 12 tonnes, and the activation of the speed enforcement function in selected red-light cameras.

Another proposed change in the law is giving the prosecution the flexibility to proceed on a 'hurt' charge even when 'grievous hurt' is caused.

This is so that it can take into account other circumstances that could have been involved.

These include the nature of the injury sustained by the victim, and whether other road users were partly responsible for the accident.

The Bill also adjusts how a motorist's track record will count towards his classification as a repeat offender for a dangerous or careless driving offence.

Currently, a motorist is considered a repeat offender if he had previously been convicted for dangerous or careless driving, conducting illegal speed trials or speeding, making him liable to significantly heavier penalties.

The new proposed laws will classify a repeat offender as someone who had at least two prior speeding convictions in which the speed exceeded 40km/h of the speed limit of the road or the vehicle.

And at least two of these prior convictions must have occurred within the past five years.

MHA said this does not affect the courts' discretion to impose a higher sentence in cases where a motorist's speeding record is an aggravating factor for the current dangerous or careless driving offence.

For any given case, they can still consider an individual's speeding record when determining an appropriate sentence, it added.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.