Man who drove passenger bus 30kmh over speed limit among 7 drivers convicted of speeding

SINGAPORE – A man who drove a passenger bus 30kmh over the speed limit along Sheares Avenue was among seven drivers of heavy vehicles who were hauled to court on Sept 30 over

speeding offences.

Among the seven vehicles, another two were passenger buses, two were cement mixers and two were prime movers.

Ching Soon Kwee, 49, was fined $1,300 and disqualified from driving for a month after he pleaded guilty to driving a passenger bus at 90kmh when the vehicle had a speed limit of 60kmh.

He had been convicted of speeding twice previously, in 1998 and 2014.

Of the seven offenders sentenced on Sept 30, at least two others had also been convicted of speeding before.

Ong Chin Poh, 63, also a passenger bus driver, was previously convicted of speeding in 2010 and 2020. On Sept 30, he was handed a $1,200 fine and disqualified from driving for one month.

Parmesivan Poongan, 61, was fined $900 for driving a cement mixer 17kmh above the prescribed vehicle speed limit along Sheares Avenue. He was previously convicted of speeding in 2017.

In a media release on Sept 29, the Traffic Police (TP) said: “Speeding remains one of the main causes of traffic accidents. When motorists exceed speed limits, they put themselves at risk and significantly increase the likelihood of severe injuries or death to other road users in the event of an accident.”

Heavy vehicles that are required to be fitted with speed limiters and are found exceeding their regulated speed limits are required to undergo inspection to verify that their speed limiters are functioning properly, added TP.

Older lorries registered before Jan 1, 2018, with a maximum laden weight (MLW) of 3,501kg to 5,000kg must be fitted with speed limiters by Jan 1, 2026. Owners of older models with an MLW of 5,001kg to 12,000kg have until July 1, 2026, to do so.

Newer lorries registered after Jan 1, 2018, must be fitted with speed limiters by Jan 1, 2027, or July 1, 2027, depending on their MLW.

On Sept 30, Subas Chandrabose Sivakumar, 46, was fined $600 for driving a cement mixer at 56kmh along Sheares Avenue when the vehicle speed limit was 40kmh.

Two prime mover drivers, Jayaraman Senthil Kumar, 42, and Balasubramanian Bavithran, 31, were each fined $600 for driving prime movers over the speed limit along Sheares Avenue.

A third passenger bus driver, Huang Xingmei, 48, was fined $600 for speeding at 74kmh along West Coast Highway when the vehicle speed limit was 60kmh.

Separately, arrest warrants were issued to Purushothaman Iyyappan, 32, Jiang Rensheng, 35, and Kesavan Seperumaniam, 51, after they failed to turn up in court on Sept 30 to face speeding charges.

Those convicted of speeding can be fined up to $1,000, jailed for up to three months, or both. Subsequent convictions will lead to a higher fine and jail term. Offenders can also be disqualified from driving.

In August, TP said the number of

speeding violations had surged 45.5 per cent in the first half of 2025

from the same period the previous year, with more than 118,000 offences recorded.

In the first six months of 2024, there were more than 81,100 violations.

To tackle this worrying trend, TP progressively

activated the speed enforcement function in more red-light cameras

islandwide since April 2024.

These cameras have detected more than 42,400 speeding violations. Despite the measures, the first half of 2025 showed no signs of improvement, TP had said.