Speech on Statues (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill – MP Sylvia Lim

by Sylvia Lim, MP for Aljunied GRC and Chairman of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council
[Delivered in Parliament on 21 Jan 2014]

I refer to Clause 9 of the Bill and have one concern about the Road Traffic Amendment.
This Clause will delete Section 82 of the Road Traffic Act, which currently provides that when persons are to be charged with certain driving offences, the police must warn him at the time of the incident or at least within 30 days that he may face prosecution for it. This provision is conducive to a fair trial, as it alerts the driver early, so that he can secure his evidence and witnesses promptly to answer to the charge later on.

The Bill proposes to delete this requirement. The rationale for the deletion is in the Explanatory Note, which states that “the provision is no longer required as the person will already be notified of possible prosecution action for the offence when he is issued with a notice under Section 81 to give information of the particulars of the driver at the time of the offence”. However, I did not see any timeline set on the police to send such notices for information to the owner. We do receive feedback from residents that Traffic Police notices are sometimes received months after the event. How long do police take to send such notices for information under Section 81 after an offence is suspected? If there is a risk that the notice will go out later than 30 days after an incident, this should be tightened up, as it would not be fair to the owner or driver of the vehicle.