Sections 64 and 65 of Road Traffic Act (Cap. 276, 2004 Rev Ed)

 

The Road Traffic Act amendment bill of 2019 was passed on 8 July 2019 and took effect on 1 November 2019. In the Ministry of Home Affairs press release regarding these said amendments, it was stated that dangerous or careless driving offences will now have higher maximum imprisonment terms and fines compared to the existing penalties under the Penal Code and Road Traffic Act.

 

Additionally, the act categorises the offences into four tiers which delineate different levels of harm caused, ie. Death, Grievous Hurt, Hurt and Endangering Life. This is in line with the Court’s view in previous errant driving cases (Public Prosecutor v Aw Tai Hock, Public Prosecutor v Stansilas Fabian Kester and Public Prosecutor v Koh Thiam Huat) that different levels of actual and potential harm caused by the offence should affect the sentence. The Honourable Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon stated in Public Prosecutor v Edwin S/o Suse Nathen at [30] that,

 

“The simple point is that the offence has been aggravated by reason of the harm being actual rather than merely potential, and I see no reason why the appropriate sentence should not reflect this.”

(Emphasis in bold)

In addition to harm, culpability is the second principal parameter which a sentencing court gives regard to in evaluating the seriousness of a crime. In Public Prosecutor v Koh Thiam Huat at [41], the Honourable Justice See Kee Oon defined it as a measure of the degree of relative blameworthiness disclosed by an offender’s actions and is measured in relation to the extent and manner of the offender’s involvement in the criminal act(s). In the case of reckless or dangerous driving offences, factors like driving beyond the speed limit, drink-driving, sleepy driving, and using a mobile phone while driving will increase the culpability of the offender.

 

Penalties

Section 64: Reckless or dangerous driving

Additionally, offenders charged and convicted under subsections 2 and 2A can expect to face disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving license in Singapore for a period of 8 years to lifetime disqualification, depending on the level of injury caused and the type of offender as listed in the table above.

Serious offenders under subsections 2B and 2C will face a 2-year disqualification period and serious repeat offenders under the same subsections will face a 5-year disqualification period.

 

Section 65: Driving without due care or reasonable consideration

Additionally, offenders charged and convicted under subsections 2 and 3 can expect to face disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving license in Singapore for a period of 5 years to lifetime disqualification, depending on the level of injury caused and the type of offender as listed in the table above.

Serious offenders under subsections 4 and 5 will face a 2-year disqualification period and serious repeat offenders under the same subsections will face a 5-year disqualification period.

For more information, please contact our criminal lawyer, Ray Louis, at 9090 8288.