NEWS: Unlicensed driver jailed and banned for fatal accident

Okay, I don’t understand this judgment.

Why was she only charged with driving a car without insurance coverage and without a licence?

The public prosecutor recognized that she had been drinking substantially and raised her intoxication as a aggravating factor. Why not just bloody charge her with driving under the influence?

This was what the TP had to say in 2010: Traffic Police would like to remind the public that drink driving is a very serious offence and the penalties are severe. Even if the driver's alcohol content in his blood or breath does not go beyond the legal limit, he can still be charged for drink driving if he is unable to control his vehicle properly. Drink drivers, on conviction, will be disqualified from driving for at least 12 months, which would, in effect, invalidate their driving licences. In addition, first-time offenders can be fined between $1,000 and $5,000, or jailed up to 6 months, while repeat offenders may be punished with a maximum fine of $30,000 and a mandatory jail term of up to 3 years. They may also be caned up to six strokes should death or serious injury be caused

This judgment compromises the efforts by the TP on the severity of drink driving.

And, I would not call her actions negligence. I would call her plan reckless. She knows she had been drinking, she knows she does not have a license, she knows she failed her basic driving test for 13 times.

This guy was jailed 30 months for drink driving and banned from driving for 15 years for killing 2 people:  http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_745977.html

NEWS: Unlicensed driver jailed and banned for fatal accident

Unlicensed driver jailed and banned for fatal accident
Published on Mar 28, 2012, ST
By Elena Chong

A young woman who caused the death of an elderly pedestrian when she lost control of her car in Bukit Batok in 2011was on Wednesday jailed a total of four months and banned from driving for 10 years.

Candy Siow Pei Shan, 23, had admitted to causing the death of Mr Tan Son Seng, 70, at the signalised cross-junction of Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 and Bukit Batok East Avenue 4 on Feb 12, 2011.

She had also admitted to driving the car without insurance coverage and without a licence that morning.

The court heard that Siow, a waitress, had been drinking brandy with her boyfriend at her workplace, Club Axchange, in Tanjong Pagar, and subsequently drank some more brandy and beer at a club in the Esplanade.


While driving her boyfriend's car along Bukit Batok East Avenue 3, she swerved right to make a right turn without first stopping at the junction of Bukit Batok East Avenue 4.

She panicked when she saw a car approaching in the opposite direction.

In a bid to avoid hitting the car, she lost control of the vehicle which veered to the left, mounted the road kerb and hit Mr Tan, who got crushed between the vehicle and the traffic light pole. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Citing aggravating factors in the case, Assistant Public Prosecutor Raja Mohan said Siow was legally not allowed to drive as she had no licence; had consumed a substantial amount of alcohol from midnight to 5am; and driven some 14km.

Having been unsuccessful in her 13 attempts to pass her basic driving test, she would have known that she was not competent to drive a vehicle, and yet, she did, he said.

Siow broke into tears after she was sentenced to jail by District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt who told her that she had been flippant in her conduct and negligent in her driving and that had caused the death of the pedestrian.

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