Road Traffic Act 1961 - Singapore Statutes Online

Provisions as to disqualifications and suspensions

43.—(1) Where a person who is disqualified by virtue of a conviction or order under this Act is the holder of a driving licence, the licence —

(a)	is suspended as long as the disqualification continues in force if he or she is disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of less than one year; and
(b)	is of no effect if he or she is disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of one year or longer and he or she must not drive a motor vehicle after the period of disqualification unless he or she passes the prescribed test of competence to drive.

(2) A driving licence suspended by virtue of subsection (1) or section 45, 47B or 47C is, during the time of suspension, of no effect.

(3) If any person who under the provisions of this Act is disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence applies for or obtains a driving licence while he or she is so disqualified, he or she shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 and the driving licence obtained by him or her is of no effect.

(4) If any person who is disqualified as mentioned in subsection (3) drives on a road a motor vehicle or, if the disqualification is limited to the driving of a motor vehicle of a particular class or description, the person drives on a road a motor vehicle of that class or description, the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction as follows:

(a)	to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both;
(b)	where the person is a repeat offender, to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 years or to both. [19/2019]

(4A) For the purposes of subsection (4), a person is a repeat offender in relation to an offence under that subsection if the person who is convicted, or found guilty, of an offence under that subsection —

(a)	has been convicted or found guilty on at least one other earlier occasion of an offence under that subsection; or
(b)	has (whether before, on or after 1 November 2019) been convicted or found guilty on at least one other earlier occasion of an offence under subsection (4) as in force immediately before that date. [19/2019]

(5) Where any person has been convicted of an offence under subsection (4) and the conviction is a second or subsequent conviction and it is proved to the satisfaction of a court that a motor vehicle has been used in the commission of the offence, the court is to, on the application of the Public Prosecutor, make an order for the forfeiture of the motor vehicle.

(6) The court is not to make an order for the forfeiture of the vehicle if the court is satisfied that —

(a)	the person who has committed the offence is not the owner of the vehicle; and
(b)	the person who has committed the offence had used the vehicle without the consent of the owner or where he or she had used the vehicle with the consent of the owner, that the owner had no knowledge of his or her disqualification under this Act from holding or obtaining a driving licence.

(7) Any motor vehicle in respect of which there has been or there is reasonable cause to suspect that there has been committed an offence under subsection (4) may be seized by any police officer or the Registrar or any officer authorised in writing by the Registrar.

(8) If there is no prosecution with regard to an offence under subsection (4), the motor vehicle seized pursuant to subsection (7) must be released at the end of one month from the date of seizure unless it has been earlier released.

(9) Despite any written law prescribing the time within which proceedings may be instituted, proceedings for an offence under subsection (3) may be instituted —

(a)	within a period of 6 months from the date of the commission of the alleged offence; or
(b)	within a period which exceeds neither 3 months from the date on which it came to the knowledge of the prosecutor that the offence had been committed nor one year from the date of the commission of the offence,

whichever period is the longer.

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