Drink-Driving

10     A total of 2,929 persons¹ were arrested for drink-driving last year. Compared to the 2,389 persons arrested in 2003, this represents an increase of 22.6%.

11     Traffic Police urge motorists not to drive if they drink. The penalty is severe. It is a non-compoundable offence. First-timers if convicted will be fined between $1000 and $5000 jailed up to 6 months. For the second or subsequent convictions, a fine between $3000 and $10,000 and imprisonment up to a year will be imposed. The court may also impose enhanced punishment of a fine up to $30,000 and imprisonment up to 3 years on a third time offender. The offender will also be disqualified from driving for at least a year from the date of conviction or the date of completion of prison sentence, if any. This would in effect, invalidate his driving licence. Therefore, if motorists drink, be merry but use public transport. Be safe and make the road safe for other road users.

12     The number of persons arrested for drink driving accident cases² fell from 395 cases in 2003 to 311 cases in 2004, a drop of 21.3%. With heightened education and enforcement efforts in 2005, we hope to see further improvement in this area.

13     Speeding remains one of the key causes of accidents in 2004. Last year, 82,135 summonses were issued for speeding, an increase of 67.9% as compared to 2003 where 48,930 summonses were issued.

14     There was a decrease in speed-related fatal and serious injury accidents in 2004 as compared to 2003. Speed-related fatal accidents decreased by 21.5%, from 65 cases in 2003 to 51 cases in 2004 while speed-related serious injury accidents decreased by 67.4 %, from 43 cases in 2003 to 14 accidents in 2004.

Red-Running

15     The number of red-running violations decreased by 6.5% from 17,585 in 2003 to 16,448 last year.

1 Calculation excludes the number of arrests made in 2004 for 2003’s offences.