Number of Drivers Issued with Summons and Fined for Illegally Modifying Their Cars

2 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Transport (a) in the past two years, how many drivers have been issued with summons and fined for illegally modifying their cars; and (b) whether any action is taken against the car workshops that have carried out the illegal modifications.

The Senior Minister of State for Transport (Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan) (for the Minister for Transport): In the past two years, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has issued an average of 610 notices of offences per month to owners of illegally modified vehicles. These include the installation of non-compliant exhaust systems, lighting systems and tinted windows.

Any person who illegally modifies a vehicle can similarly be penalised under the Road Traffic Act. LTA will investigate and take action against workshops if they are found to have engaged in illegal modification activities.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Thank you, Speaker. I have received many complaints from residents regarding noisy cars, noisy motorcycles, speeding along the East Coast Parkway and Mountbatten Road. Residents complain that cars and motorbikes have been illegally modified to remove the noise muffler and hence, are much noisier. There are also comments that the car in the Tanjong Pagar accident was illegally modified and hence, became combustible.

I wanted to ask the Senior Minister of State whether the Government will step up enforcement and impose higher penalties against workshops that carry out such illegal modifications. At the end of the day, it is not just the drivers who modified the vehicles, but also the workshops that are complicit in carrying out the illegal modifications. And currently, with the travel restrictions, these modifications cannot be done or undone in Johor Bahru (JB).

So, when we send the vehicles for testing, would LTA take action against vehicles that had been illegally modified and whether they can trace where the modifications had been done?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan: I want to thank the Member for his supplementary question. It is, indeed, a serious offence for vehicles to be illegally modified because of the safety risks they pose as well as environmental hazards like noise pollution. But noise pollution from vehicles can be caused by a variety of factors: illegal modifications as well as the vehicle design or the driver's behaviour. Indeed, vehicle noise for some high performance vehicles may be louder, but it is not because they are illegally modified. Noise may also appear higher in residential neighbourhoods or at night when the ambient noise is low.

Nonetheless, the agencies including LTA keep a very close track on public feedback on noisy vehicles and if we suspect that there is illegal vehicle modification, LTA will investigate and take action against those who are involved.

As regards the Tanjong Pagar incident, SPF is still investigating, so it is premature for us to comment on this.

I would like to also address the Member's query about stepping up enforcement and enhancing penalties against workshops. Indeed, in 2017, we updated the Road Traffic Act to strengthen our enforcement efforts against workshops. But it remains challenging to establish culpability against the workshop. For instance, we need the vehicle owners to identify the workshops and then, for them to agree to be prosecution witnesses. So far, the vehicle owners we have interviewed have not been cooperative. Nonetheless, LTA is looking at other measures to gather evidence to take action against the workshops.

But more importantly, what we do is to stem the demand for such illegal modifications that is from the source. That is why we have also enhanced the penalties against vehicle owners found to have illegal vehicle modifications. In 2017, the penalty for illegal vehicle modification for the vehicle owners was increased to up to $5,000 or up to three months jail, or both for first-time offenders. The penalties are doubled for repeat offenders.

In addition, we have introduced an enhanced vehicle inspection regime. That is for repeat offenders. Vehicle owners who are found to have modified their exhaust systems, for instance, for second or subsequent times, they will be subjected to more frequent mandatory vehicle inspections of every three to six months, instead of the normal every one to two years. In addition, if they are found to have tampered engines in the vehicles, the vehicles will have to be de-registered and they might not be granted rebates for the residual Certificate of Entitlement or Preferential Additional Registration Fee, if there is any.

With these strict penalties, as well as our regular enforcement and inspection efforts, we have been able to reduce the number of illegal vehicle modification offences from about 1,800 per month on average in 2015 to about 550 per month on average in 2020.