When vehicles may be seized and detained under the Road Traffic Act
The grounds and process for seizing and detaining a vehicle under section 95 of Singapore’s Road Traffic Act, including owner notice, costs and disposal.
Primary source: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/RTA1961?ProvIds=pr95-
When a vehicle may be seized
Under section 95 of the Road Traffic Act, a police officer, the Registrar or an LTA employee authorised in writing by the Registrar may act if there is reason to believe that a vehicle is connected with an offence under the Act or its rules, or has been or is being used in breach of a condition of a licence issued for it under the Act. After producing their authority, the officer may seize the vehicle and take it to a place of safety, or require its owner, driver or person in charge to take the vehicle and any attached trailer to a specified place of safety (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(1) and (4)).
The seizure power may be used when the owner, driver or person in charge is absent. A vehicle taken to a place of safety must remain there until a Magistrate, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar orders its release (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(2)–(3)).
Refusing or neglecting to comply with a direction to take the vehicle to a specified place of safety is an offence. Removing the detained vehicle or trailer without authority while it is awaiting a release order is also an offence (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(5)–(6)).
Notice, costs and disposal
The Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar must give the owner notice of the seizure as soon as reasonably possible, if the owner is known. The notice must be given in a manner allowed by section 131A (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(8)).
If the owner is convicted of, or allowed to compound, an offence under the Act or its rules, the removal, seizure, detention, storage and disposal expenses may be recovered from the owner. Disputed or unpaid expenses may be assessed summarily by a Magistrate’s Court and recovered as if they were a fine (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(7)).
If the owner has not claimed the vehicle or trailer within one month after detention, the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the Registrar may sell or otherwise dispose of it after giving one month’s notice of that intention in the Gazette. Proceeds are applied first to vehicle licence fees and the listed removal, seizure, detention, storage and disposal charges, then to damage to Government property caused by unlawful use. Any surplus is paid to the owner; if it remains unclaimed for 12 months after the sale or disposal, it is forfeited to the Government (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic Act 1961, s. 95(9)–(10)).
Coverage debt
The Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025 contains a proposed replacement process using a collection period, including a minimum 48-hour period in some notices. Section 10 is not among the commencement dates listed in that Act’s published text. This guide follows the current consolidated section 95; verify the official commencement record before adding the collection-period process (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2025, ss. 1 and 10).
The Act does not give a public step-by-step process in section 95 for asking the relevant authority to release a detained vehicle. The release decision must come from one of the authorities named in subsection (3); contact the authority handling the seizure for current case-specific instructions.