SINGAPORE: When a new law is passed and you are caught holding a smartphone while driving, you could get in trouble even if you were not using it.
That is because Singapore’s roads have become more dangerous and the tightening of laws is in response to its roads becoming less safe, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
On Tuesday (July 7), MHA tabled the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill.
The proposed legislation also introduces new offences for purposeful endangerment and drug driving.
Between 2021 and 2025, traffic fatality rates increased by about 24 per cent while traffic violations rose by about 38 per cent.
Traffic deaths hit a 10-year high of 149 in 2025 compared with 141 in 2016. There were 142 deaths in 2024. The number of people injured on the roads also increased from 9,342 in 2024 to 9,955 in 2025.
MHA said: “To arrest this trend, we will be tightening enforcement and penalties for traffic offences.”
Current laws already make it an offence to text or call while holding a phone and driving. Those caught are usually handed 12 demerit points and a $400 to $500 fine.
In more serious cases, however, they can be prosecuted in court.
If convicted, first-time offenders can be jailed for up to six months and fined $1,000. Repeat offenders can be jailed for up to a year and fined $2,000.
But this requires proof that the device was being used, making it difficult to enforce as the authorities have to see it happening and verify this manually in order to catch offenders.
The Bill removes the need for this. Instead, just holding the phone while the vehicle is moving will be an offence, as it is dangerous and less likely that the driver would be focused on the road, said MHA.
This will also allow the Traffic Police (TP) to catch offenders by using cameras, or photos and videos sent in by the public.
This, however, will not affect the use of mounted devices. Drivers can still hold their devices when the vehicle is stationary.
Another issue is how vehicles can become dangerous weapons when drivers use them to deliberately hurt others.
MHA said: “Where a driver deliberately endangers another person using a vehicle and causes death, he must face consequences that are proportionate to his culpability and harm.”
But such drivers cannot be convicted for murder or culpable homicide, unless it can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that they intended to kill or knew that the act was likely to cause death.
Currently, a first-time offender is likely to be charged with dangerous driving causing death instead, facing a maximum of eight years’ jail.
In the case of Jarrett Tee Lee Kiat, who showed no remorse after causing the death of an 18-year-old teen during an expressway race, he was sentenced to five years and eight months’ jail after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.
MHA said there should be graver consequences for such conduct.
To address this, the Bill introduces a new offence of purposeful endangerment using a vehicle causing death or grievous hurt.
Offenders can be jailed for up to 15 years, fined, caned and disqualified from driving for life, or for at least 10 years if there are special reasons.
The Bill also increases penalties for dangerous and careless driving causing grievous hurt.
On Dec 5, 2025, Yoong Kok Kai had his jail term increased from 3½ years to five years for causing an accident, while drunk, that left an auxiliary police officer in a vegetative state.
Yoong drove home after three consecutive drinking sessions, ending up at Tuas Checkpoint and losing control of his vehicle.
The High Court Judge had said there was no excuse for those who chose to drink large amounts of alcohol and yet drive. The judge had wondered whether the maximum sentences were fully adequate for the worst type of incidents, but said it was a matter for the legislature.
For dangerous driving causing grievous hurt, the Bill will see the maximum jail time raised from five to seven years for first-time offenders, and from 10 to 13 years for repeat offenders.
There are no proposed changes to the maximum jail terms for careless driving causing grievous hurt.
For both offences, the additional penalties due to aggravating factors will also be raised.
Serious offenders, such as those who commit the offence while drink driving, will face up to 18 months additional jail time, from the current one year.
Serious repeat offenders will face additional jail time of up to three years and six months, as compared with the current additional maximum of two years.
The Bill also makes clear that where a disqualification order is made against an offender who is jailed, the disqualification period commences only after the release from prison, even if the jail term is for an unrelated offence.
MHA said TP process hundreds of thousands of traffic violations annually. Most are detected by cameras, and officers are legally required to manually review every photo or video.
The Bill will allow them to use an automated decision-making system and automatically issue notices to vehicle owners.
MHA said the system will be used only to process technical violations that can be verified from the evidence, such as speeding and red-light violations.
Vehicle owners who receive the notices will continue to be required to provide the identity and address of the driver who had committed the offence within 14 days.
MHA said they may apply for this to be revoked if the vehicle or the offence was wrongly identified by the system, and TP will manually review such appeals. - The Straits Times/ANN
