Man who drove against flow of traffic for more than 3km jailed and fined
SINGAPORE — After drinking three pints of beer, a motorist was on the road for more than two hours, driving against the flow of traffic for more than 3km and beating seven traffic lights.
Goh Boon Keong, 32, hit three cars and failed to stop in three separate collisions.
The Singaporean was sentenced to three months' jail and fined $1,000, and disqualified from driving for three years on Monday (22 July). He pleaded guilty to drink driving, rash driving and failing to stop after an accident with a car.
On 13 April last year, Goh finished drinking at a pub along Orchard Road at about 6.15 pm and then headed home to Bedok in his car.
Goh failed to stop for the red traffic light signal six times, at the junctions of Grange Road by Orchard Link, Braddell Road by Bishan Road, Lornie Road by Thomson Road, Stevens Road by Whitley Road, Toh Guan flyover by slip road from Pan Island Expressway (PIE) towards Changi Airport, and South Buona Vista Road by Stock Port Road.
At the T-junction of Lornie Road by Thomson Road, he crashed into a car but did not stop.
He drove against the flow of traffic for a total of 3.4km at Balestier Road towards Thomson Road, at the slip road of Clementi Road from Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) towards Tuas till the slip road from South Buona Vista Road into AYE towards Tuas, at the slip road of South Buona Vista Road, Buona Vista flyover, South Buona Vista Road till the signalized junction of South Buona Vista Road by Stock Port Road, and at the slip road of South Buona Vista Road from AYE towards Tuas, AYE towards Tuas, slip road of Normanton Park, and Normanton Park till the roundabout of Normanton Park.
He collided into two cars but failed to stop while driving along Bukit Timah Road.
A police officer stopped Goh at the exit of Normanton Park Condominium. When the officer conducted a breathalyser test on Goh, he failed the test and was arrested. Goh was found to have 80 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than twice the legal limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
Seeking two months’ jail for Goh, his lawyer Genesis Shen said his client was a "very safe driver" with good driving skills and had not accumulated any demerit points prior to the incidents. He had lost his sense of bearing and had circled around for more than two hours, Shen added.
Goh made a total restitution of $4,515 to one of the drivers he got into an accident with, including $100 in medical fees and $420 in Chinese medicine, which suggested light injury, said Shen.
The other two drivers did not make police reports and were unresponsive when contacted by the police, he added.
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