Being in charge of a vehicle while unfit or over the limit
Road Traffic Act s 68 penalises being in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or public place, while not driving, if unfit through drink or drugs or over the prescribed alcohol limit. A High Court decision discusses the control and physical ability relevant to being in charge; s 67A can enhance sentence after repeated specified convictions.
Primary source: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/RTA1961?ProvIds=pr68-
Section 67 (driving or attempting to drive while unfit or over the prescribed limit) is recorded in prescribed-alcohol-limit and drink-driving-disqualification. This article is the separate offence of being in charge while not driving.
The s 68 offence
Any person who when in charge of a motor vehicle which is on a road or other public place but not driving the vehicle (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 68(1)):
- is unfit to drive in that he or she is under the influence of drink, a drug, a psychoactive substance or an intoxicating substance to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of a vehicle; or
- has so much alcohol in his or her body that the proportion of it in his or her breath or blood exceeds the prescribed limit,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months, and, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $5,000 and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 68(1)).
What “in charge” can involve
In Chong Pit Khai v Public Prosecutor [2009] SGHC 69, the High Court said that “in charge” implies an ability to control or power to do something with the vehicle, such as drive it, and that the person should have some physical ability to do so. It said that simply sleeping in a vehicle properly parked in a designated lot would be difficult to envisage as being in charge on those facts. The judgment contrasted a lorry found on an expressway shoulder, where prior driving could reasonably be inferred, but did not say that sleeping in a parked vehicle is automatically a defence; whether a person was in charge depends on the circumstances (Singapore High Court, Chong Pit Khai v Public Prosecutor [2009] SGHC 69 at [31]–[32]).
Deemed not to have been in charge
For that subsection, a person is deemed not to have been in charge if the person proves both (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 68(2)):
- that at the material time the circumstances were such that there was no likelihood of the person’s driving the vehicle so long as he or she remained so unfit, or so long as the proportion of alcohol remained in excess of the prescribed limit; and
- that between becoming so unfit (or first exceeding the limit) and the material time, the person had not driven the vehicle on a road or other public place.
Disqualification on a second or subsequent conviction
On a second or subsequent conviction under this section, a court convicting the offender is to, unless the court for special reasons thinks fit not to order or to order a shorter period, order disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period that is equal to or longer than 12 months starting on the date of the offender’s release from prison (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 68(3)). The SSO extract notes Act 5 of 2026 wef 14 April 2026 against that subsection.
Where a person convicted under s 68 has previously been convicted under s 67, he or she is treated for the purpose of s 68 as having been previously convicted under s 68 (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 68(4)).
Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person committing an offence under s 68 (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 68(5)).
The prescribed breath and blood limits themselves remain those in s 72, recorded in prescribed-alcohol-limit.
Enhanced penalties after previous convictions (s 67A)
Section 67A is a distinct sentencing power. If a person who has been convicted of 2 or more specified offences is again convicted of any specified offence, and the court is satisfied by reason of previous convictions or antecedents that it is expedient for public protection or to prevent further such offences that punishment in excess of that prescribed should be awarded, the court may punish with punishment not exceeding 3 times the amount of punishment to which the offender would otherwise have been liable, except that where imprisonment is imposed it shall not exceed 10 years (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 67A(1)).
For s 67A(1), the current definition of “specified offence” covers offences under ss 43(4), 47(5), 47C(7), 63(4), 64(1) (in its form immediately before the commencement of section 5 of the Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025), 67(1) and 70(4), whenever committed; offences under s 65(1) in its form immediately before that commencement, or s 68(1), committed on or after 1 November 2019; offences under ss 64(2), (3) or (4), or 65(2), (3) or (4), committed on or after 12 June 2025, when section 5 of that Act commenced; and offences under ss 43(4), 64(1), 66(1) or 67(1) as in force immediately before 1 November 2019. The current s 67A(3) also records that subsection (3)'s former introductory wording was deleted with effect from 17 August 2026 (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 67A(3)).
Section 67A does not apply to a person convicted under s 63(4) unless the court is satisfied that in committing that offence and the previous one, the person had driven at a speed which exceeded by more than 40 km/h the applicable speed limit (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 67A(2)).
A District Court or Magistrate’s Court may award the full punishment prescribed by s 67A despite any contrary provision in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 67A(4)).
Coverage debt
- The Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2026, sections 12 and 13, provides amendments to sections 67A and 68. On commencement, s 67A's specified-offence list would add the new purposeful endangerment using a motor vehicle offence in s 63A(1), for conduct on or after that section's commencement, and replace some date references with 12 June 2025. Section 68 would add an offence for being in charge of a vehicle with a specified substance present in the person's blood. For that offence, the enacted defence would require the defendant to prove on a balance of probabilities that the circumstances made it unlikely that they would drive while the substance remained present and that they had not driven the vehicle since it became present. The amendments would also change the alcohol-limit wording from “exceeds” to “is equal to or exceeds”. For repeat s 68 convictions, the 12-month minimum disqualification would start only once the offender is released and no longer serving any imprisonment sentence. Section 1 says the Act comes into operation on a date appointed by the Minister by Gazette notification. Rechecked on 21 October 2026: the current SSO text supports the corrected s 67A offence list and the s 68 summary; it carries amendment annotations for Act 21 of 2025 (s 67A) and Act 5 of 2026 (s 68). SSO's published 2026 subsidiary-legislation supplement listing filtered for commencement notifications does not list a commencement notification for Act 18 of 2026. This article does not apply sections 12 and 13 before commencement (SSO, Road Traffic Act 1961 s 67A; s 68; SSO, 2026 commencement notifications; SSO, Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2026, ss. 1, 6, 12 and 13).
- Court sentencing practice is not inferred beyond the statutory maxima.