2 drivers in separate careless driving cases get fines instead of jail on appeal

Two drivers who were initially each given jail time in unrelated cases of careless driving have had their sentences commuted to just fines following their separate appeals to the High Court.

The two judges who heard the appeals each noted that the actual property harm caused was minor, and that the potential harm was not serious enough to warrant a jail term.

The judges also expressed the view that the courts should take care not to find heightened or increased potential harm too readily and without sufficient basis.

In one case, Mr Chan Chow Chuen had originally been sentenced by a district judge to five days’ jail for a charge of careless driving and a $5,000 fine for a charge of drink driving. He was also given a three-year driving ban.

On Nov 22, his sentence for careless driving was substituted with a fine of $11,000.

This meant his total sentence is now a $16,000 fine and a three-year driving ban.

Mr Chan had two glasses of whiskey at a restaurant on the night of May 20, 2022.

He was driving home when he stopped his car in Bayfront Link to respond to a text message from his wife.

As he was trying to move off, his car hit the vehicle that he had parked behind.

The victim called the police, and Mr Chan was arrested after he failed a breathalyser test.

A subsequent test at the police station showed that he had 64mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The prescribed limit for driving is 35mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

He later made full restitution to the victim, amounting to $450 for repairs and $300 for loss of use of the car.

In allowing Mr Chan’s appeal, Justice See Kee Oon found that the custodial threshold had not been crossed in view of the minimal property damage caused.

The “collision” amounted to little more than a light graze, and only respraying was needed to rectify the damaged paintwork, he said.

Justice See also disagreed with the lower court that Mr Chan’s alcohol level was “moderately high”.

He said it was fairer to characterise Mr Chan’s alcohol level as “within the moderate range”, given that it fell within the second-lowest band of the sentencing framework for drink-driving cases.

In the other case, Ms Fan Lei was originally sentenced to five days’ jail for a charge of careless driving and a $3,000 fine for a charge of drink driving. She was also given a two-year driving ban.

On Oct 30, Ms Fan Lei had her sentence for careless driving substituted with a fine of $8,000.

This meant her total sentence is now a fine of $11,000 and a two-year driving ban.

Ms Fan drove for 17km before she hit another car while driving on a four-lane road.

She was found to have 43mcg of alcohol in every 100ml of breath, which fell within the lowest band under the drink-driving sentencing framework.

She has made full restitution of $800 for the damage caused to the victim’s car, which was scratched and had the cover of the side mirror ripped off.

In allowing Ms Fan’s appeal, Justice Aidan Xu noted that an important factor in the district judge’s calculus was the potential harm posed by her careless driving.

While it was true that she drove for 17km, he said there was no evidence that she was driving in a careless manner over the entire distance.

“The only characteristic that persisted over that distance of 17km was her inebriation, which was the subject matter of a separate drink-driving charge,” said Justice Xu.

The amount of property damage was low, and the alcohol level, while not negligible or borderline, was not that high either, he added.

Ms Fan was represented by Mr Sankar Kailasa Thevar Saminathan, while Mr Chan was represented by Senior Counsel Gregory Vijayendran.

Separately, changes to traffic rules were proposed in Parliament on Nov 11 to prevent some offenders from being overly punished, but the Ministry of Home Affairs said the amendments will not affect offences involving driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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