{"id":62814,"date":"2026-06-22T15:32:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T07:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=62814"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:32:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T07:32:01","slug":"private-hire-driver-with-poor-driving-record-cut-in-front-of-cars-and-braked-gets-jail-driving-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=62814","title":{"rendered":"Private-hire driver with poor driving record cut in front of cars and braked, gets jail, driving ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>SINGAPORE: A private-hire driver with a history of traffic violations cut in front of a taxi and braked repeatedly, with the cabby evading him at first but being drawn into a collision.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being arrested and released on bail over that incident, the man subsequently<strong> <\/strong>engaged in similar actions by cutting into a woman&#8217;s lane and braking abruptly.<\/p>\n<p>Desmond Teo Wei Kiat, a 39-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced on Monday (Jun 22) to 28 days&#8217; jail and banned from driving for 30 months.<\/p>\n<p>He pleaded guilty to one count of driving dangerously, with a second charge taken into consideration.<\/p>\n<h2>THE CASE<\/h2>\n<p>The first incident involving the taxi took place in the early hours of Dec 29, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The 41-year-old taxi driver was driving along the slip road from Tampines Expressway (Seletar Expressway) into Sengkang East Road at about 4.25am that morning.<\/p>\n<p>Teo was driving ahead of the victim and switched lanes from the first to the second lane.<\/p>\n<p>The victim overtook Teo, with Teo feeling that the cabby had encroached into his lane, forcing him to brake to avoid contact.<\/p>\n<p>Minutes later, the victim took the exit and began driving along Sengkang East Road towards Buangkok Green, stopping at a red light at the junction of Sengkang East Road and Compassvale Street.<\/p>\n<p>The victim was the first vehicle in the fourth lane.<\/p>\n<p>Teo followed the victim and drove his car along the fifth lane before cutting into the fourth lane in front of the victim&#8217;s car, stopping with his vehicle diagonally positioned in front of the victim.<\/p>\n<p>Teo did so because he intended to turn right at the next junction. His manoeuvre forced the victim to move his vehicle slightly to the right to avoid contact.<\/p>\n<p>When the lights turned green, Teo drove off before braking abruptly four times. He then went straight along Sengkang East Road towards Buangkok Green.<\/p>\n<p>The victim followed behind him and began switching lanes.<\/p>\n<p>When he did so, Teo suddenly did the same and braked abruptly, forcing the victim to step on his brakes to avoid colliding with Teo.<\/p>\n<p>The pair then approached the junction of Sengkang East Road and Sengkang East Way. The victim drove along lane one, which was a right-turn-only lane, intending to turn right.<\/p>\n<p>Teo was in lane three, separated from the victim by a lorry in lane two.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the victim turned right, Teo cut in front of the lorry. He was veering right towards the victim when he collided with the victim&#8217;s vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The victim&#8217;s taxi was scratched and dented. He alighted and examined the damage, which later cost him S$2,900 to repair, but Teo did not alight. Instead, he drove off.<\/p>\n<p>Teo was arrested on May 7, 2025 and released on bail.<\/p>\n<p>Several months later on the morning of Dec 9, 2025, Teo was driving along Pasir Panjang Road towards Clementi when he switched lanes in front of a 44-year-old female driver.<\/p>\n<p>The woman felt that Teo had cut into her lane and flashed her high beam lights at him several times.<\/p>\n<p>Teo responded by braking abruptly and veering slightly to the left, forcing the woman to also brake abruptly to avoid contact.<\/p>\n<p>The woman then switched lanes away from Teo, but Teo swerved into her lane without signalling and braked again.<\/p>\n<p>The woman had to brake abruptly and swerve into another lane to avoid contact, but Teo followed suit.<\/p>\n<p>He wanted to stop the woman to confront her about the flashing of her high beams, the court heard.<\/p>\n<h2>SENTENCING\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Deputy Public Prosecutor Ernest Goh sought five to 10 weeks&#8217; jail and 24 months&#8217; disqualification from driving, noting the sustained pattern of dangerous driving involving two victims.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Goh noted that Teo has multiple compounded traffic offences, including speeding, driving without reasonable consideration and careless driving.<\/p>\n<p>This refers to traffic violations paid with out-of-court fines.<\/p>\n<p>Teo&#8217;s lawyer, Mr Kalaithasan Karuppaya from Regent Law asked for five weeks&#8217; jail instead.<\/p>\n<p>He said his client&#8217;s actions were due to a lapse in judgment, but that he cooperated fully with the authorities during investigations.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Kalaithasan said Teo is employed as a limo and private-hire vehicle driver.<\/p>\n<p>He said Teo was currently grieving the loss of his younger brother, which has also plunged the family into significant financial hardship due to substantial outstanding mortgage obligations.<\/p>\n<p>Teo is also enduring a period of acute emotional distress with his current divorce proceedings, said the lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>District Judge Lorraine Ho imposed a longer driving ban than what the prosecution sought, in view of Teo&#8217;s poor driving record.<\/p>\n<p>She said there were elements of road rage in his actions and said Teo had driven in a &#8220;rather aggressive&#8221; manner.<\/p>\n<p>For dangerous driving, he could have been jailed for up to 12 months, fined up to S$5,000 and given a driving ban.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/private-hire-driver-cut-lane-brake-collide-jail-6200151\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE: A private-hire driver with a history of traffic violations cut in front of a taxi and braked repeatedly, with the cabby evading him at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--TH3kJajY--\/c_crop,h_465,w_826,x_0,y_147\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:mediacorp,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2024\/03\/27\/state_courts_file_photo.png?itok=3YN6piVv","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6011,25203,9617,1445,4916,27,18400,780,2029,20039,1952],"class_list":["post-62814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-ban","tag-braked","tag-cars","tag-cut","tag-driver","tag-driving","tag-front","tag-jail","tag-poor","tag-privatehire","tag-record","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/62815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}