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SINGAPORE (THE NEW DOCUMENT) – In a media interview last year, the owner of the e-scooter shop claimed that he had rejected a request from a teenager to modify his e-scooter so that it could exceed the legal speed limit 25 km / h.
Samuel Tan Woon Yeow recalled telling the teenager’s father, who was willing to pay thousands of dollars to do so: How could he, in good conscience, “train a child on a scooter that would put him or innocent bystanders in trouble. or damage? “
However, just weeks before that interview was published on Today in July last year, Tan, the owner of Synergy Scooters, had been caught driving his own unsupported device at a speed of at least 135km / h by Lim Chu Kang. Road with three teenagers.
For traveling on a public highway in such a reckless manner as to endanger human life, Tan, 38, was jailed on Monday (November 30) for a week.
He also pleaded guilty to a Road Traffic Act offense for driving a personal mobility device (PMD) on a highway.
The three teens, who cannot be named because two were 16 and one was 15 at the time, pleaded guilty to similar crimes.
Probation eligibility reports were requested for the teens and will return to court on January 6 for sentencing.
This was not Tan’s first offense.
He had been fined less than six months earlier for what was essentially the same act of driving an electric scooter at high speed, Assistant District Attorney Ronald Ang told District Judge Lorraine Ho.
He said the prosecution had preferred a more serious charge this time to reflect Tan’s greater guilt, and a simple fine would send the wrong message.
The court heard that the group of four were traveling in PMD at high speed along Lim Chu Kang Road towards Jalan Bahar at around 12:10 am on July 6 last year.
Driving in the left lane of the three-lane highway, which has a speed limit of 70 km / h, the group was seen by two Traffic Police officers on patrol.
Officers turned on flashing lights and sirens to get the group’s attention, but did not stop and officers followed the group for at least 150 meters.
Using the speedometer on his motorcycle, an officer recorded a teenager traveling at 135 km / h. Another teenager who was a little ahead was also at that speed.
Tan and the third teenager, who were traveling even further ahead, finally stopped.
The other two teenagers traveled against the flow of traffic along Jalan Bahar before stopping as well. One of them also made an unauthorized U-turn.
All four PMDs were unregistered, weighed more than twice the 20kg limit, and exceeded the device’s maximum speed limit of 25km / h.
Tan’s lawyer, Lim Lei Theng, urged Judge Ho to consider a jail term of less than a week.
He said Tan had not ridden a PMD since the crimes and that he is looking for work as business at his store has gone bad.
He added that Tan’s offenses were victimless and less dangerous than other PMD cases recklessly driven on pedestrian walkways.
The judge disagreed.
Judge Ho said, “Even if it’s 12 in the morning near the cemetery, it’s (still) a public road …
“It was fortuitous that no one was injured.”
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