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Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 15/1974

Read the first time on 28th August 1974.

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, 1974, and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 18

2. Section 18 of the Road Traffic Act (hereinafter in this Act referred to as “the principal Act”) is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Production of driving licences

18.—(1) Any person driving a motor vehicle on a road shall, on being so required by a police officer, produce his driving licence for examination so as to enable the police officer to ascertain the name and address of the holder of the licence, the date of issue and the authority by which it was issued, and if he fails to do so he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, if within twenty-four hours after the production of his driving licence was so required, the licensee produces the licence in person at such police office or police station in Singapore as may be specified by such police officer at the time its production was required he shall not be convicted of an offence under this section.

(3) The provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to a paid driver or to the driver of a motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers for hire or reward or for the carriage of goods.”.

Amendment of section 21

3. Subsection (1) of section 21 of the principal Act is hereby amended by deleting the word “criminal” appearing in the second line thereof.

Amendment of section 23

4. Subsection (1) of section 23 of the principal Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the expression “sections 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 46 of” appearing in the second line thereof; and
(b)	by deleting the word “for” appearing in the third line thereof and substituting therefor the word “from”.

New sections 23A, 23B and 23C

5. The principal Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 23 thereof the following new sections: —

“Power of Registrar to suspend a driving licence

23A.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Registrar may suspend every driving licence of a person for a period not exceeding six months if such person’s record (as kept by the Registrar) as a driver of motor vehicles or his conduct or habits as such driver establishes that it would not be in the interests of public safety for him to hold a valid driving licence or that such person is not competent to drive a motor vehicle.

(2) For the purpose of establishing that it would not be in the interests of public safety for a person to hold a valid driving licence or that such person is not competent to drive a motor vehicle, the Minister may make rules establishing a system of awarding points against a person for the commission of an offence under this Act or any rules made thereunder.

(3) The rules made under subsection (2) of this section shall specify the maximum number of points to be awarded against a person before it may be established that it would not be in the interests of public safety for him to hold a valid driving licence or that such person is not competent to drive a motor vehicle.

(4) The power conferred upon the Registrar by this section to suspend the driving licence of a person may be exercised at such time after the maximum number of points, referred to in subsection (3) of this section, has been awarded against such person as the Registrar thinks fit.

(5) Where the points awarded against a person under the rules made under subsection (2) of this section reaches fifty per cent of the maximum number at which the Registrar may suspend the driving licence of such person under this section, the Registrar shall give notice thereof in writing to such person.

(6) Where a person is disqualified by an order of a court from holding or obtaining a driving licence for such period of time as may be specified in such order, every point awarded against him under the rules made under subsection (2) of this section shall thereupon be cancelled.

(7) Where a holder of a valid driving licence commits on a single occasion more than one offence under this Act or any rules made thereunder, points shall be awarded against him only for the offence committed by him and in respect of which the largest number of points may be awarded against a person.

(8) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed to have committed an offence under this Act or any rules made thereunder if he pays the prescribed penalty for that offence under section 83 of this Act.

Licensee may show cause why driving licence should not be suspended

23B.—(1) The Registrar shall, before suspending a driving licence of a person under the provisions of section 23A of this Act, give the person concerned notice in writing of his intention to do so, specifying a date, not less than fourteen days after the date of the notice, upon which such suspension shall be made and calling upon the person to show cause to the Registrar why such driving licence should not be suspended.

(2) Upon the person failing to show cause within the period referred to in subsection (1) of this section and if the Registrar decides to suspend the driving licence of such person pursuant to section 23A of this Act, the Registrar shall forthwith inform the person by notice in writing of such suspension.

(3) A person may, within fourteen days of the receipt of the notice referred to in subsection (2) of this section, or within such extended period of time as the Minister may allow, appeal in writing against such suspension to the Minister whose decision thereon shall be final.

(4) An order of suspension under section 23A of this Act shall not take effect until the expiration of a period of fourteen days after the Registrar has informed the person concerned of the order.

(5) If within that period the person concerned appeals to the Minister the order shall not take effect unless the order is confirmed by the Minister or the appeal is for any reason dismissed by the Minister.

Surrender and return of driving licence

23C.—(1) The Registrar shall, upon suspending a licence under section 23A of this Act, require such licence to be surrendered to and retained by him.

(2) Any person whose driving licence has been suspended under section 23A of this Act shall forthwith surrender the driving licence to the Registrar.

(3) At the end of a period of suspension a driving licence surrendered to the Registrar under subsection (2) of this section shall be returned to the holder thereof and the points awarded against him shall be cancelled.

(4) Any person whose driving licence has been suspended under section 23A of this Act shall not during the period of suspension drive a motor vehicle on a road under any other driving licence issued by any authority or otherwise.

(5) Any person who drives a motor vehicle on a road when his driving licence is suspended under section 23A of this Act shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.”.

Amendment of section 25

6. Section 25 of the principal Act is hereby amended by deleting subsection (5) thereof.

Amendment of section 27

7. Section 27 of the principal Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by deleting the expression “—(1)” appearing in the first line of subsection (1) thereof; and
(b)	by deleting subsection (2) thereof.

New section 37A

8. The principal Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 37 thereof the following new section: —

“Liability of owner of vehicle for parking offence

37A.—(1) When a parking offence is committed, the person who at the time of the occurrence of the offence is the owner of the motor vehicle in respect of which the offence is committed shall, by virtue of this section, be guilty of an offence under the rule or section concerned in all respects as if he were the actual offender guilty of the parking offence unless —

(a)	in any case where such offence is dealt with under section 83 or 84 of this Act, such owner satisfies the police officer referred to in section 83 or subsection (7) of section 84 of this Act, as the case may be, that such vehicle was at the relevant time a stolen vehicle or a vehicle illegally taken or used; and
(b)	in any other case, the court is satisfied that such vehicle was at the relevant time a stolen vehicle or a vehicle illegally taken or used.

(2) Nothing in this section shall affect the liability of the actual offender but where a penalty has been imposed on or recovered from a person in relation to any parking offence no further penalty shall be imposed on or recovered from any other person in relation thereto.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section no owner of a motor vehicle shall by virtue of this section be guilty of an offence if —

(a)

in any case where such offence is dealt with under section 83 or 84 of this Act, he —

(i)

within seven days after service on him of a notice under section 83 or 84 of this Act alleging that he has been guilty of such offence, furnishes by statutory declaration to the police officer referred to in section 83 or subsection (7) of section 84 of this Act, as the case may be, the name and address of the person who was in charge of the vehicle at all relevant times relating to the parking offence concerned; or

(ii)

satisfies such police officer that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained such name and address; and

(b)

in any other case he satisfies the court that he did not know and could not with reasonable diligence have ascertained such name and address.

(4) A statutory declaration made under subsection (3) of this section if produced in any proceedings against the person named therein and in respect of the parking offence concerned shall be prima facie evidence that such person was in charge of the vehicle at all relevant times relating to such parking offence.

(5) A statutory declaration which relates to more than one parking offence shall not be regarded as a statutory declaration under, or for the purposes of, subsection (3) of this section.

(6) In this section —

“owner”, in relation to a motor vehicle, includes —

(a)	every person who is the owner or joint owner or part owner of the vehicle and any person who has the use of the vehicle under a hire-purchase agreement but not the lessor under any such agreement;
(b)	the person in whose name the vehicle is registered except where such person has sold or otherwise disposed of the vehicle and has complied with the provisions of the rules applicable to him in regard to such sale or disposal; and
(c)	in the case of a vehicle in respect of which a general licence is issued under section 12 of this Act, the person to whom such general licence is issued;

“parking offence” means an offence of parking a motor vehicle or of causing or permitting a motor vehicle to stand, wait or be parked in contravention of any rule or an offence under section 73 of this Act;

“rule” means a rule made under this Act;

“section” means a section of this Act.”.

Amendment of section 72

9. Subsection (2) of section 72 of the principal Act is hereby deleted and the following substituted therefor: —

“(2) The Minister may make rules with respect to the precedence of vehicles and pedestrians respectively and generally with respect to the movement of traffic (including pedestrians) at and in the vicinity of a crossing established on, or a subway or bridge constructed and maintained under or over, a carriageway for the use of pedestrians and for the purpose of protecting traffic along the carriageway from danger, or of making the crossing less dangerous to pedestrians (including rules prohibiting pedestrian traffic on the carriageway within fifty metres of the crossing, subway or bridge) and with respect to the indication of the presence and limits of the crossing, subway or bridge, by marks on the roadway or otherwise and to the erection of traffic signs in connection therewith.”.

Amendment of section 82

10. Section 82 of the principal Act is hereby amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “four hundred dollars and in the case of a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months” appearing at the end of subsection (1) thereof and substituting therefor the words “one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months and in the case of a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months”; and

(b)

by inserting immediately after the word “offence” appearing in the first line of subsection (3) thereof the expression “, and every notice or other document required or authorised to be given or served,”.

Amendment of section 83

11. Subsection (6) of section 83 of the principal Act is hereby amended —

(a)	by inserting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (c) thereof;
(b)	by deleting paragraph (d) thereof; and
(c)	by re-lettering paragraph (e) thereof as paragraph (d).

Repeal and re-enactment of section 84

12. Section 84 of the principal Act is hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor: —

“Traffic ticket notice

84.—(1) Where a police officer has reasonable grounds for believing that a person has committed an offence against this Act or any rules made thereunder, he may, in lieu of applying to a court for a summons, forthwith serve upon that person a prescribed notice, requiring that person to attend at the court described, at the hour and on the date specified in the notice.

(2) A duplicate copy of the notice shall be prepared by the police officer and, if so required by a court, produced to the court.

(3) The notice may be served on the person alleged to have committed the offence in the manner provided by subsection (3) of section 82 of this Act.

(4) On an accused person appearing before a court in pursuance of such a notice, the court shall take cognizance of the offence alleged and shall proceed as though he were produced before it in pursuance of section 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 113).

(5) If a person, upon whom such a notice has been served as aforesaid, fails to appear before a court in person or by counsel in accordance therewith, the court may, if satisfied that the notice was duly served, issue a warrant for the arrest of such person unless in the case of an offence which may be compounded that person has before that date been permitted to compound the offence.

(6) Upon a person arrested in pursuance of a warrant issued under subsection (5) of this section being produced before it, a court shall proceed as though he was produced before it in pursuance of section 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code and shall at the conclusion of such proceedings call upon him to show cause why he should not be punished for failing to attend in compliance with the notice served upon him and if cause is not shown may order him to pay such fine not exceeding two thousand dollars as the court thinks fit or may commit him to prison for a term not exceeding two months.

(7) A police officer not below the rank of inspector specially authorised by name in that behalf by the Minister by notification in the Gazette may, at any time before the date specified in the notice, cancel the notice.”.

New section 84A

13. The principal Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after section 84 thereof the following new section: —

“Minister may prescribe forms of notices

84A. The Minister may prescribe such forms of notices as he may think fit for the purposes of sections 83 and 84 of this Act.”.

Amendment of section 85

14. Subsection (1) of section 85 of the principal Act is hereby amended by deleting the word “or” appearing in the seventh line thereof and substituting therefor the word “of”.

Amendment of section 89

15. Section 89 of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting immediately after subsection (5) thereof the following new subsection: —

“(6) Where in any proceedings for an offence under this Act or the rules made thereunder relating to the maximum speed at which motor vehicles may be driven it is necessary to prove the speed at which the vehicle has been driven, a certificate, purporting to be signed by a police officer not below the rank of inspector who was in charge of the apparatus, instrument or appliance used to measure, at a distance from such vehicle, the speed at which the vehicle was driven and certifying that the apparatus, instrument or appliance had been examined within the previous three months and found to be accurate, shall be accepted by any court as prima facie proof of the facts certified in such certificate.”.