Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Road Traffic Offences Against Foreign-Registered Vehicles in the Past Four Years

Question:

Dr Tan Wu Meng: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) in the past four years, how many reports of road traffic offences have been made against foreign-registered vehicles in Singapore; (b) how many road traffic summonses have been issued; (c) how many such summonses are compoundable with fines; (d) what proportion of such fines remain unpaid; and (e) what measures exist to ensure drivers of foreign-registered vehicles comply with Singapore’s traffic laws.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1.   From December 2017 to November 2021, the Traffic Police (“TP”) detected 112,331 traffic violations by foreign-registered vehicles. Of these, 107,071 were compounded, while the rest were issued with court summonses. 76% (81,838) of the composition fines issued during this period remain unpaid.

2.   There are challenges in ensuring that fines issued for offences committed by foreign vehicles are paid, because they are outside our jurisdiction. To address this, foreign-registered vehicles with a certain threshold of outstanding vehicular-related fines are denied entry into Singapore. These outstanding composition sums or court fines will have to be paid before the foreign-registered vehicles are allowed entry.