I came home yesterday to find a letter from the traffic police department on my desk and this is what it says:
Your vehicle was reported by our patrol officer to have committed the following offence:
Date of offence: 17 April 2007, 9.36am
Place of offence: PAN ISLAND EXPRESSWAY -> TUAS ROAD
Vehicle Number: XXXX Vehicle Type: Motor Car
Offence(s): Speeding (exceed speed limit of 80kmph road) under Sec 63…
So I thought. Shit. My first record of speeding offence and that probably means being served demerit points plus a fine.
As I went on to read the letter, I realised there was more to it.
The driver could have been fined $130 and be awarded 4 demerit points.
However, in this instance, no summons action will be take against you or the drive of the vehicle. This letter serves as an advisory to the driver. Please note that the Traffic Police will maintain a record of this advisory and we will not hesitate to take summons action against drivers who accumulate multiple advisory letters or similar warning notices for speeding.
Wa. So kind eh? Letting me off with an advisory. But I couldn’t recall if I was speeding and no mention was made about my speed of driving. It could have been 81kmph and that’s still exceeding and now I’m in THEIR records.
This is all very strange to me. Even my hubs was puzzled because we’ve never seen an advisory notice of speeding offence. Is this something new?
Anyway, the letter ended off by asking me to urge all drivers to adhere to speed limits and drive safely. So there you go.
Have never heard of it before, didn’t know that would just issue warning. But isn’t this is far better than just straight away slapping us with a fine. At least, this way, we will know that we are being marked and will take care and not to speed. Right??? If that is their aim then I think they would have achieve it. Now you will become more aware of your speed.
Jan: Well, in a sense. But then I’m uncomfortable knowing they can issue such warnings at will even if my speed limit was within acceptable range.
Comment by Jan — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 @ 2:49 pm
yup. my man’s got one before when he’s going along Grange road. this letter came a week later to say that he was going at 70km/h along the 50 or 60kmh rd….
imp: Hmmm…it’s like we have to travel strictly within the speed limit now. It never used to be like that. I mean going 70 for a 60kmph road was fine.
Comment by imp — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 @ 5:38 pm
Wow.. so good..!! I thought the 2nd part was to ask for bribe.. but looks like it’s not..
What a system!
ZM: Haha…here no bribery lah…it’s all official with a slap of a hefty fine!
Comment by zara's mama — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 @ 5:42 pm
That is just a license to fine anyone at will … how would you prove your case in court?
Loong: That was exactly what I thought. That they can just issue warning letters at will…
Comment by Loong — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 @ 8:58 pm
ahhh, nice they let you off. when i got a ticket for the first time for going over 5 miles over the speed limit, i paid $30 fine way back in 1988. nice system you got there! wish we have that here.
Belle: Well, maybe it’s better than what you’ve got but still, we still gripe…
Comment by Belle — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 @ 2:48 pm
So good still give chance..but i guess now you must be quite ‘paranoid’ over your speed?
Eileen: Well, I try to be more careful on the expressways…but I usually don’t drive over a 100kmph anyway…
Comment by Eileen — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 @ 3:57 pm
hey my hubby just got the same summon on the day when he was rushing to pick me up from the hospital! But we did not get any ‘warning’ letter though and was asked to pay up asap. gee, I wonder how u managed to get away with it!
msff: I really don’t know. But my guess is I did not cross the threshold…
Comment by msfairface — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 @ 6:23 pm
At least you got a warning. Those are unheard of in my area!
BBM: It’s new here…well, it’s better than a fine so I shouldn’t complain.
Comment by Black Belt Mama — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 @ 10:00 pm