SINGAPORE \u2013 A man who was seen driving erratically along Punggol Way on Nov 5 was allegedly vaping while at the wheel. <\/p>\n
The man, who was driving a white sedan, later stopped the vehicle at an intersection along Punggol Way near Samudera LRT station.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said it received a case referral from the police regarding the e-vaporiser found on the driver. Investigations are ongoing. <\/p>\n
An eyewitness, Mr Xu, 54, told Shin Min Daily News that he was driving along Punggol Way with his son when they spotted the car moving very slowly and braking repeatedly.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI thought the driver might be unwell, so I decided to stop and check.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Xu said the driver appeared dazed and was puffing on a vape. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried asking him to wind down the window and open the door, but he just stared blankly at us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This incident is the latest involving drivers allegedly caught with vapes.<\/p>\n
On Sept 30, a 36-year-old driver was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicating substances after he was involved in an <\/p>\n accident outside Khatib Polyclinic<\/p>\n <\/a> in Yishun that injured two pedestrians. Vapes and components were seized from his vehicle.<\/p>\n On Sept 22, ST reported that a 25-year-old man was arrested for <\/p>\n driving while under the influence of intoxicating substances<\/p>\n <\/a>\u00a0after a hit-and-run accident on the PIE towards Changi Airport\u00a0on Sept 20. A vape was seized. <\/p>\n On Sept 5, a 54-year-old driver was arrested for driving while under the influence of intoxicating substances after a <\/p>\n hit-and-run accident at Block 301 Bukit Batok Street 31<\/p>\n <\/a>. Controlled drugs, drug paraphernalia and a vape\u00a0were found on him, said the police. <\/p>\n On Aug 30, an accident near a petrol kiosk at Hougang Avenue 2 just after midnight saw<\/p>\n two drivers arrested over drug-related offences<\/p>\n <\/a>. <\/p>\n One of them, a 28-year-old man, had a bag of vapes in his vehicle. Police found a plastic bag containing a crystal-like substance in the other driver\u2019s car. <\/p>\n In July, the HSA said <\/p>\n etomidate was detected in the blood samples<\/p>\n <\/a> of two people involved in a fatal road accident in Punggol Road on May 13. HSA said 42 e-vaporisers and more than 1,200 pods were found in the car, with some containing etomidate. <\/p>\n In a joint statement on Nov 7, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and HSA said a total of <\/p>\n 1,929 people were caught for vape offences<\/p>\n <\/a> from September to Nov 2. Of these, 167 were etomidate abusers. <\/p>\n MOH and HSA said 108 of these abusers were placed on rehabilitation programmes at the Institute of Mental Health and social service agencies. <\/p>\n Another\u00a033\u00a0are awaiting the outcome of further investigations or interviews, and six are waiting to be placed on the programme.<\/p>\n The remaining\u00a020\u00a0will not be placed on the programme because\u00a0six\u00a0are foreigners awaiting repatriation and the other\u00a014\u00a0have been jailed for offences unrelated to vapes.<\/p>\n The updates come after <\/p>\n stricter measures were introduced on Sept 1<\/p>\n <\/a> to tackle the vape scourge in Singapore, including increased fines and mandatory rehabilitation for etomidate abusers. <\/p>\n <\/a><\/picture><\/div>\n