72-year-old business owner allegedly fails to stop at 2 red light signals while drink driving
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SINGAPORE – A 72-year-old owner of an electronics firm had allegedly consumed alcohol shortly before she drove a car and failed to stop at two red lights in the Teban Gardens area in Jurong East.
On Thursday, Wong Sin Thye, who owns Sin Li Electronics Trading, was charged with one count each of drink driving and driving without due care and attention.
She was allegedly driving along Teban Gardens Road towards West Coast Road shortly before midnight on Aug 3 when she failed to stop at two red light signals near Hasanah Mosque.
Wong is also accused of having at least 42 micrograms (mcg) of alcohol in 100ml of breath at the time.
The prescribed limit is 35mcg of alcohol in the same amount of breath.
The police said in a statement on Wednesday that Wong was one of multiple motorists who were arrested between March and September after they allegedly failed their breathalyser tests during routine checks.
The police added: “Driving under the influence of alcohol is an extremely dangerous and irresponsible act. All motorists are reminded to abide by traffic rules to keep the roads safe for everyone.
“The Traffic Police (TP) will not hesitate to take firm action against motorists who choose to flout traffic laws and endanger the safety of other road users.”
The number of people arrested for drink driving went up from 1,453 in 2021 to 1,685 in 2022.
Under the Road Traffic Act, which was amended in 2019, motorists who commit traffic offences, including drink driving, risk stiffer penalties.
First-time offenders convicted of drink driving can now be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $10,000 – double the previous maximum imprisonment term and fine.
The number of road accidents linked to drink driving has also gone up after a decline over the two years when Covid-19 restrictions largely shut the doors on nightlife activities.
TP figures showed there were 175 drink-driving accidents in 2022, the highest since 2018 when 178 such cases were recorded. There were 155 drink-driving accidents in 2021.
Meanwhile, the number of fatal drink-driving accidents went up from eight cases in 2021 to 10 in 2022.
Wong is expected to plead guilty on Dec 14.
