Police arrested an elderly man for suspected drinking and driving offence after his car collided with a taxi in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 on Saturday night, June 2.
A video of the incident was shared by a person that showed an overturned car, which was releasing smoke from its bonnet at the accident location. The video also captured some police officers, who went to investigate the incident.
Reports stated that another man, who was passing by the accident scene said that the scene looked like the car has collided with a CityCab Prius and then flipped over. Later, the police said that they came to know about the accident at around 11.28 pm on Saturday.
A police spokesperson said that they arrested a 65-year-old man, who was mentioned as the driver of the involved car, for alleged drinking and driving.
As of now no injuries were reported. Police is investigating the accident.
Drink-driving is governed by the Road Traffic Act, of which section 67 sets out the offence in the country.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon stated the starting point for the punishment of such offenders should be the level of alcohol in an offender's body and then any "aggravating or mitigating" factors should be considered. He handed down the new guidelines in the High Court on 1 October 2013, i.e. punishment for driving with 64ug of alcohol in his blood – about 1.82 times the legal limit – to a 21-month ban and $2,500 fine.
Menon spelt out four bands of punishment for first-time offenders. Each contains a range of sentences, based on the level of alcohol in excess of the legal limit of 35 micrograms (ug) per 100 millilitres of breath:
- Between 35 – 54 ug: $1,000 to $2,000 in fines, and a driving ban of 12 to 18 months
- Between 55 – 69 ug: $2,000 to $3,000 in fines, and a driving ban for 18 to 24 months
- Between 70 – 89 ug: $3,000 to $4,000 in fines, and a driving ban for 24 to 36 months
- At least 90 ug: $4,000 to $5,000 in fines, and a driving ban for 36 to 48 months or longer
For the repeat offenders under section 67, a fine of between $3,000 and $10,000, or an imprisonment term of up to 12 months is applicable.
This is the second accident that took place on Saturday. Earlier, at around 7.25 pm an accident took place in Sheares Avenue that caused injuries to four adults and three children. The incident involved four cars, including a black Audi with Singapore registration number SKF1583R that flipped over after colliding with a silver Toyota Altis, just before an Electronic Road Pricing gantry in Sheares Avenue, next to Marina Bay Sands hotel. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) took four injured adults to Singapore General Hospital, while the injured children were taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital.
