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Preliminary breath tests and follow-up specimens

When police and immigration officers may require an initial breath specimen, the consequences of failing to provide it, and the conditions for follow-up breath or blood specimens.

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Primary source: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/RTA1961?ProvIds=pr69-

When an initial breath test can be required

Under section 69, a police officer may require a preliminary breath test if there is reasonable cause to suspect one of the situations listed in the Act. These include a person driving, attempting to drive or in charge of a vehicle on a road or other public place who has alcohol in their body or committed a traffic offence while the vehicle was moving; a person who drove or was in charge with alcohol and still has alcohol in their body; a person who drove or was in charge and committed a moving-vehicle traffic offence; or a person who was driving, attempting to drive or in charge when the motor vehicle was involved in a collision with one or more other motor vehicles, or an accident caused injury or death to another person (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 69(1)).

The specimen may be required at or near where the requirement is made. For an accident under section 69(1)(d), the police officer may instead specify a police station. A police officer must conduct the test (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 69(2)–(3)).

An immigration officer may require a preliminary breath specimen from a person within or near an authorised checkpoint if the officer considers it necessary to prevent or detect an offence under section 67 or 68 (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 69(3A)).

For this section, an “authorised checkpoint” means an authorised landing place, authorised point of entry, authorised departing place, or authorised point of departure declared under section 5 of the Immigration Act 1959. “Immigration officer” means a person appointed under section 3 of that Act (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 69(7); Singapore Statutes Online, Immigration Act 1959, ss. 3 and 5).

Failure to provide a specimen and arrest

Without reasonable excuse, failing to provide a required preliminary breath specimen is an offence. A first conviction carries a fine of $1,000 to $5,000 or imprisonment for up to 6 months. For a second or subsequent conviction, the penalty is a fine of $3,000 to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to 12 months (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 69(4)).

A police officer or immigration officer may arrest without warrant if a preliminary result gives reasonable cause to suspect that the alcohol proportion exceeds the prescribed limit, if a person fails to provide a specimen and the officer has reasonable cause to suspect alcohol, or if the officer has reasonable cause to suspect the person is under the influence of a drug, psychoactive substance or intoxicating substance. A person who is a patient in a hospital must not be arrested under this arrest power (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 69(5)–(6)).

After an arrest under section 69(5), a police officer investigating an offence under section 67 or 68 may require a breath specimen for a further breath test or a blood specimen for laboratory testing, even if a preliminary specimen was already required. A blood specimen may be required only where breath testing cannot or should not be required for medical reasons, an approved breath device is unavailable or testing is impracticable, or there is reasonable cause to suspect drug, psychoactive-substance or intoxicating-substance influence (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 70(1)–(3)).

Without reasonable excuse, failing to provide a specimen required under section 70 is an offence. If the person was driving or attempting to drive at the time of the accident or arrest, on conviction the person is punished as if the offence were under section 67; if the person was in charge of the vehicle, the person is punished as if the offence were under section 68. When requiring a blood specimen for laboratory testing, a police officer must warn that failure may result in imprisonment, a fine and disqualification; if the warning is omitted, the court may dismiss a charge for failing to provide the specimen (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 70(4)–(5)).

Hospital patients and statutory definitions

A person who is a hospital patient cannot be required to provide a breath specimen or a specimen for laboratory testing unless the registered medical practitioner immediately in charge authorises it and the specimen is to be provided at that hospital. The practitioner must not authorise a specimen if taking it would prejudice the patient's proper care and treatment (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 71).

For sections 67 to 71B, “fail” includes refuse. The Act defines a breath test as assessing whether alcohol is present and, if so, its concentration, using a device type approved by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 72).

Coverage debt

  • Sections 71A and 71B address evidential presumptions and laboratory handling of blood specimens. This guide does not set out those procedures or every statutory safeguard.
  • The Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2026, sections 14–16 and 19, would amend sections 69–72. The changes include renaming “preliminary breath test” as “breath test”; allowing a passive breath test before a section 69 breath test; revising where breath specimens may be required; adding a route to require blood specimens from some hospital patients; and replacing the hospital-patient safeguards so each person taking, directing or overseeing a breath or blood specimen must satisfy themselves it will not endanger the patient. Section 69's arrest trigger based on a test result would change from alcohol “exceeds” the prescribed limit to “is equal to or exceeds” it. The Act also changes statutory definitions and prescribed limits; the future limits of 15 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath and 30 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood are covered in prescribed-alcohol-limit. Section 1 requires a Minister-appointed commencement date by Gazette notification. Rechecked on 24 October 2026: the SSO current commencement listings do not show a commencement notification for Act 18 of 2026, so this article continues to summarize the operative Act only (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2026, ss. 1, 14–16 and 19; Singapore Statutes Online, current commencement index).

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