Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 1/1976

Read the first time on 1st March 1976.

An Act to amend the Road Traffic Act (Chapter 92 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title and commencement

1. This Act may be cited as the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 1976, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

New sections 30A and 30B

2. The Road Traffic Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 30 thereof the following new sections: —

“Blood and urine test

30A.—(1) A person who has been arrested under section 29 or 30 of this Act may be required by a police officer to provide at a hospital a specimen of his blood or urine, or both, for a laboratory test if the police officer has reasonable cause to suspect such person of having alcohol or a drug in his body; but a person shall not be required to provide a specimen of his blood for a laboratory test under this subsection if a medical practitioner in immediate charge of his case is not first notified of the proposal to make the requirement or objects to the provision of such specimen on the ground that its provision would be prejudicial to the proper care or treatment of the patient.

(2) A person who without reasonable excuse fails to provide a specimen for a laboratory test in pursuance of a requirement imposed under subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and if it is shown that at the time of any accident or of his arrest —

(a)	he was driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, he shall be liable to be punished as if the offence charged were an offence under section 29 of this Act; or
(b)	he was in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, he shall be liable to be punished as if the offence charged were an offence under section 30 of this Act.

(3) For the purposes of any proceedings for an offence under section 29 or 30 of this Act or subsection (2) of this section; a certificate purporting to be signed by a medical practitioner that he took a specimen of blood or urine from a person with his consent shall be evidence of the matters so certified and of the qualifications of the medical practitioner:

Provided that such certificate shall not be accepted as evidence for the prosecution unless a copy thereof had been served on the accused not less than seven days before the hearing.

(4) A police officer shall, on requiring any person under this section to provide a specimen for a laboratory test, warn him that failure to provide a specimen of blood or urine may make him liable to imprisonment, a fine and disqualification, and, if the police officer fails to do so, the court before which that person is charged with an offence under subsection (2) of this section may dismiss the charge.

Presumption of incapability of having proper control of motor vehicle

30B. Any person who has been arrested under section 29 or 30 of this Act shall be presumed to be incapable of having proper control of a motor vehicle if the specimen of blood provided by him under section 30A of this Act is certified by a medical practitioner to have a blood alcohol concentration in excess of 110 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.”.

Search within Legislation