Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill

1. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) introduced the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill for First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill seeks to:

a. Tighten enforcement and penalties for traffic offences; and

b. Enable the Traffic Police (TP) to better leverage technology to enhance its operational efficiency.

Tighten enforcement and penalties for traffic offences

2. Our roads are becoming less safe. Between 2021 and 2025, traffic fatality rate increased by about 24% while traffic violations rose by about 38%. To arrest this trend, we will be tightening enforcement and penalties for traffic offences.

Introduce a new offence of purposeful endangerment

3. A vehicle can become a dangerous weapon if misused. Where a driver deliberately endangers another person using a vehicle and causes death, he must face consequences that are proportionate to his culpability and harm. However, he cannot be convicted for murder or culpable homicide unless it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to kill or knew that the act is likely to cause death. Instead, such an offender is likely to be charged today with dangerous driving causing death, with a maximum imprisonment term of eight years for first time offenders.  

4. There should be increased deterrence and graver consequences for such conduct. To address this, the Bill introduces a new offence of purposeful endangerment using a vehicle causing death or grievous hurt. Grievous hurt has been included in the offence as whether or not the victim dies is not within the control of the offender. Please refer to Annex for examples on acts of purposeful endangerment. Offenders may face mandatory imprisonment of up to 15 years, with discretionary caning and liability for a fine. They will also be subject to lifetime disqualification unless the Court determines that there are special reasons not to do so, and if so, they will be subject to mandatory disqualification of at least 10 years. The court will also have the power to order the forfeiture of the vehicle used to commit the offence.

Increase penalties for dangerous driving and careless driving causing grievous hurt

5. Some forms of grievous hurt can result in profound and catastrophic consequences, such as traumatic brain injuries that can leave victims permanently bedbound. The Bill increases the maximum penalties for careless driving[1] and dangerous driving[2] causing grievous hurt and brings them closer to the penalties for causing death. Please see Table 1 for the revised maximum penalties:

Tighten and streamline the drink-driving and drug-driving regime

Tighten prescribed alcohol limits

6. Drink driving is a highly culpable offence. No one accidentally drinks and drives. Offenders deliberately choose to do so, placing themselves and others at risk of traffic accidents. To strengthen deterrence and improve road safety, MHA will tighten the prescribed alcohol limits for drink-driving. All drink driving cases will be prosecuted, as per today. Please see Table 2 for the new limits:

7. These tightened alcohol limits bring Singapore in line with comparable jurisdictions such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. There is no “safe” number of alcohol drinks before driving; the effect of alcohol on a person varies depending on factors including a person’s gender, age, health, and body composition. We strongly advise drivers not to drink at all if they plan to drive, as this is the safest approach not to run afoul of the revised limits. That said, as a general illustration, the tightened limits are equivalent to approximately 1.5 standard drinks for males and not more than 1 standard drink for females, consumed three hours before driving.[3]

8. MHA will also work with the Sentencing Advisory Panel to consider developing guidelines to recommend imprisonment for first-time drink-driving offenders who drive with very high blood alcohol levels, recognising the significant risk such conduct poses to other road users.

Revised breath test process

9. Today, when TP officers suspect a driver of drink-driving, they first carry out a preliminary breath test at the scene before administering an evidential grade breath test at the police lock-up. The time difference between the two tests can result in a lower alcohol reading than the actual level at the time of driving. The Bill amends the breath test process to allow TP to use the portable Handheld Breath Evidential Analyser, which provides evidential-grade breath alcohol concentration levels immediately at scene.

New offence of driving after consumption of controlled drugs, intoxicating substances and psychoactive substances

10. Controlled drugs, intoxicating substances and psychoactive substances can significantly impair a person’s ability to drive safely. Today, enforcement action can be taken only upon proving that the driver was unfit to drive and was incapable of having proper control of the vehicle. To deter driving under the influence of such substances, the Bill introduces a new offence of driving with the presence of controlled drugs, intoxicating substances or psychoactive substances detected in a driver’s blood specimen. Drivers found with these substances as defined under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973, Intoxicating Substances Act 1987 and Tobacco and Vaporisers Control Act 1993, in their blood and drive will be liable for an offence, regardless of the quantity of such substances detected or whether there was any observed impairment in driving. However, the driver will not be liable for this offence if he had consumed the drugs according to his legal prescription for medical purposes, and he did not know that such consumption might impair his driving.

11. For clarity, drivers who consume any form of drugs, including medication, and who are impaired and incapable of having proper control of the vehicle will remain liable under the existing law.

Amended offence of holding mobile communication device while vehicle is in motion

12. Today, making out an offence of using a mobile communication device[4] while driving requires proof that the driver was operating any communicative or other functions of the device, such as texting or calling, while holding the device in his hand and driving the vehicle. This means that the offence can only be enforced manually, as officers must verify that the driver was operating the device.

13. The Bill amends the RTA to remove the need to prove that the driver was operating the device. Instead, it will be an offence as long as a driver holds a mobile communication device in his hand while the vehicle is moving, since this is dangerous and makes it less likely that the driver will be focused on the road. This amendment will also allow TP to enforce the offence using cameras or based on photographic or videographic evidence submitted by members of the public, and increase the detection of such offences.

14. This change will not affect the use of mounted devices, which will not be an offence. Drivers may also hold their devices while the vehicle is stationary.  

Revised blood specimen process

15. Under the RTA, a blood specimen may be taken from a patient in hospital if the registered medical practitioner in charge of the patient’s care gives explicit authorisation (verbal or written) after assessing that doing so will not affect the patient’s proper care and treatment. The Bill replaces the requirement for the doctor to explicitly authorise the taking of blood, with a requirement for the registered medical practitioner or nurse taking the specimen, and any other person who is giving instruction in relation to or overseeing the taking of the specimen, to each be satisfied that taking the specimen does not endanger the patient. This aligns the RTA with other legislation governing the taking of bodily fluids, such as the Criminal Procedure Code, where the legal safeguard focuses on patient safety rather than a separate authorisation mechanism.

Disqualification periods to start when offender is released from prison, even for unrelated offences

16. The Bill makes clear that where a disqualification order is made against an offender who is imprisoned, the offender’s disqualification period commences only after he or she is released from prison, even if the imprisonment is for an unrelated offence.

Leveraging technology to enhance TP’s operational efficiency

17. TP processes hundreds of thousands of traffic violations annually, which are largely detected by cameras. Today, TP officers are required by law to manually review every photo or video to determine if a traffic violation has been committed, identify the offending vehicle’s registration number, and issue a Notice to Furnish Driver’s Particulars to the vehicle owner.

18. The Bill amends the RTA to enable TP to leverage technology and introduce an automated decision-making system to assess whether a prescribed offence has been committed and automatically issue the Notice to Furnish Driver’s Particulars (“Notice”) to the vehicle owner. The system will only be used to process technical violations that can be objectively verified from photographic or video evidence, such as speeding and red-light violations, and which do not require proof of a person’s mental element.

19. Vehicle owners who receive the Notice will continue to be required to provide the identity and address of the driver who had committed the offence within 14 days. They may apply for the Notice to be revoked if the vehicle or the offence was wrongly identified by the system. TP will manually review such appeals.

Annex A – Examples on Acts of Purposeful Endangerment [PDF, 85.31 KB]

[1] 1 drink refers to 1 can of beer (330 ml, 5% alcohol) or 1 glass of wine (125 ml, 12% alcohol) or 1 shot of liquor (40ml, 40% alcohol).

[2] Mobile communication device refers to a mobile phone; or any wireless handheld device (such as a tablet computer) or wearable device (such as a smart watch) designed or capable of being used for a communicative function.

[3] Careless Driving refers to driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other road users.

[4] Dangerous Driving refers to driving in manner that is objectively dangerous and shows disregard for the safety of others.