\n<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE: Members of Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 4) sought clarifications on the use of mounted devices while driving and the impact on private-hire drivers as a law was passed to criminalise holding mobile phones while driving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A total of 26 MPs from both sides of the House and one Nominated MP spoke during a debate that lasted over five hours at the second reading of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill.<\/p>\n
The changes to the law make it an offence for motorists to hold their mobile phones while driving, even if they are not using the device.<\/p>\n
Previously, an offender needed to be using it in hand for communicative functions such as calling and texting while the vehicle was in motion, for it to constitute an offence.<\/p>\n
The requirement that the driver must operate a function of the device could only be enforced by a police officer who observed the driver using the device while driving, Second Minister for Home Affairs Sim Ann said during her opening speech.<\/p>\n
“This is challenging to enforce practically,” she said.<\/p>\n
“More importantly, there should be no need to prove that the driver was operating the device. Unlike other everyday objects, a mobile communication device is ordinarily held to communicate or access information.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“These are activities which typically require the driver\u2019s visual and cognitive attention and divert their attention away from driving.<\/p>\n
“Where the device is handheld, the risk of distraction is further compounded because the driver must hold and support the device, reducing the driver\u2019s ability to maintain proper control of the vehicle.”<\/p>\n
The new law makes it clear that it is not an offence if the device is secured in a mount and a driver touches it while driving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But drivers who get distracted or compromise control over their vehicle while using a mounted device may still be liable for offences such as careless or dangerous driving.<\/p>\n
The law also allows the traffic police to enforce the offence using cameras, as well as photos or videos submitted by members of the public. This will increase the detection of such offences, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said previously.<\/p>\n
Besides stricter rules on holding a mobile phone while driving, the law now imposes harsher penalties for dangerous driving causing grievous hurt and lowers the drink-driving limits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
SINGAPORE: Members of Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 4) sought clarifications on the use of mounted devices while driving and the impact on private-hire drivers as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--MtVJMP6f--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/08\/04\/istock-2177195834.jpg?itok=Rtaq3B9O","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2110,27692,2223,670,27,2012,863,25549,4403,4399,5387,20039,5640],"class_list":["post-74238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-concerns","tag-criminalise","tag-devices","tag-drivers","tag-driving","tag-holding","tag-law","tag-mounted","tag-mps","tag-passed","tag-phones","tag-privatehire","tag-raise","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74238","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=74238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}