SINGAPORE - A man who had been drinking drove rashly to avoid a police roadblock and almost had a head-on collision with another car.

Sales manager Ng Kim Inn, 36, was jailed seven weeks' jail, fined $4,000 and banned from driving for four years on Thursday (Jan 18) after admitting to drink driving and rash driving.

The court heard that after a drinking session on March 5, 2017, where he had had eight to nine glasses of beer at Club Street, he drove his Land Rover along New Bridge Road towards Jalan Bukit Merah at about 4.40am.

Two traffic police officers were on duty at the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street and Upper Cross Street, before a roadblock, when they saw Ng turn right into Upper Cross Street.

Ng then braked abruptly and made an illegal U-turn and encroached into the path of an unidentified car on his left.

He drove against the flow of traffic for about 100m during which he nearly collided head-on with another car. He abruptly made an illegal left turn into the multi-storey carpark of Chinatown Point in New Bridge Road.

He drove to level 3 of the carpark where the two police officers caught up with him and stopped him.

When Ng stepped out of his vehicle, his speech was slurred and he had blood shot eyes.

He failed the breathalyser test and was escorted to Traffic Police headquarters in Ubi Avenue 3 for another test.

His breath-alcohol level was found to be 81 microgrammes in 100ml of breath, which was more than twice the legal limit.

He has a similar conviction for drink driving in 2013 .

Pleading for leniency, Ng's lawyer R.S. Wijaya said his client had family and work problems at the time. He underwent great emotional turmoil and eventually found solace in drinking.

At the same time, his previous employer announced plans to restructure the company's operations due to the bleak economic outlook and he was asked to leave by the end of July 2017.

Ng, a sole breadwinner, has since given up his vehicle and found another job after taking a huge pay cut, said Mr Wijaya.

He could have been fined up to $10,000 and jailed for up to 12 months for the repeat offence of drink driving. For rash driving, the maximum punishment is one year's jail and a $5,000 fine