In Singapore, cars and other vehicles drive on the left side of the road, as in neighbouring Malaysia, due to its British colonial history (which led to British driving rules being adopted in India, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong as well). As a result, most vehicles are right-hand drive. However, exemptions have been made to allow foreign vehicles and construction machineries to utilise the road space of Singapore. As such, vehicles with left hand drive configurations are required to either be driven with a sign indicating "LEFT-HAND-DRIVE" or towed.
The per-capita car ownership rate in Singapore is approximately 12 cars per 100 people (or 1 car per 8.25 people).
History
The earliest roads in Singapore, after its founding in 1819, were laid out in the Jackson Plan of 1822 in keeping with Sir Stamford Raffles's directions. A grid system was adopted for the town with roads for carriages being wide, and those for horses four yards wide. Pedestrian paths along the roadsides were two yards wide, allowing room for two people to walk abreast and giving rise to the five-foot ways that came to be associated with the sheltered walkways along roadside shops.
These roads were fairly advanced for the time, with Macadam surfacing used on High Street as early as 1821. Roads were also constructed across the rest of the island, although they were usually unsurfaced. Most of the roads were accessible to the kampong roads by 1845, and finally to the HDB developed roads since the 1960s. Currently, there are a lot of roads and expressways in Singapore. The first motor car was introduced in Singapore in 1896.
As with many other urban areas of the time, all the earliest modes of transport were replaced by today's transport.
Driving licence Obtaining a driving licence A class 3 or class 3A licence permits the holder to drive motorcars weighing less than 3,000 kg when unladen and to carry no more than seven passengers. In addition, the holder may drive a motor tractor or other motor vehicles with an unladen weight of less than 2,500 kg. A class 3A licence limits the holder to drive motor vehicles without a clutch pedal, typically automatic transmission cars, whereas a class 3 licence allows the holder to drive all motor vehicles. Class 3A drivers are not allowed to drive manual transmission cars.
Drivers must be 18 years old to qualify for a licence including applying for theory lessons. Once a driver passes the Basic Theory Test (BTT), a Provisional Driving Licence (PDL) which lasts for six months before December 2017, 2 years validity after 1 December 2017, must be applied for before taking the practical driving lesson. It is an offence to learn to drive without a valid PDL licence. However, a student can choose to apply and pass the Final Theory Test (FTT) before applying for a PDL and starting driving lessons. The last stage of obtaining a driving licence is the practical driving test, for which a student must have a FTT pass result slip and a valid PDL. Failure to do so will cause the test to be rejected by the Traffic Police Tester.
The driving theory tests consist of 50 questions to be answered within 50 minutes; to pass, students must answer 45 out of the 50 questions correctly. Results are shown immediately after the test on the same touchscreen monitor.
Foreign drivers in Singapore The Singapore Traffic Police require foreigners residing in Singapore to have a valid foreign driver's licence and to be at least 18 years old.
Conversion to a Singaporean licence is often possible for certain classes of vehicles.
Foreigners who have obtained a Singapore licence are supplied with a limited-duration licence which needs to be renewed between one month before expiry to three years after expiry. After this period, the conversion procedure or licensing theory and practical tests must be taken all over again.
All foreigners visiting or residing in Singapore will need to produce an IDP (International Driving Permit) produced by their home country with an English Driving Licence. The IDP (International Driving Permit) lasts for a year. However, Countries under ASEAN are exempt from carrying an IDP. Foreigners must present both a valid Singapore Driving License and Employment Pass/FIN card with at least 6 months of validity.
Licence renewal No renewal of a driving licence is required for Singapore citizens and permanent residents since the introduction of the photocard licence. The driving licence is for the normal lifespan of the person and can be surrendered upon request to the Traffic Police. If the person passes away, the licence will have to be surrendered to the Traffic Police for cancellation, similar to National Registration Identity Card (NRIC). It is an offence for any persons to continue or to possess or use any other person's identity cards listed above without authorization.
A person who commits 12 demerit points and is above 80 years old is subject to early termination of the driving licence indefinitely. Additionally, no new drivers over 79 years old are accepted. Random medical check-up screenings will be required for those over 62 years old for all drivers that still want to drive.
For Class 4, 5, bus and taxi driving licences, annual medical check-ups are done from 70 years old all the way to 80. The upper age limit is 81.
Using vehicles registered on a different holder In Singapore, it is illegal to ride a motorcycle if the rider's name is not entered in the insurance contract. For each motorcycle, only one co-rider can be entered, but the procedure to change the co-rider is viable. The only exception is commercial insurance, where any rider can use the vehicle. Only a business registered company can register for a commercial insurance.
Driver Improvement Points System The Driver Improvement Points System (DIPS) is a system whereby demerit points will be added to the driver's record. The system is meant to deter drivers from infringing the rules-of-the-road and, if they do, suspend their driving licence for a period of time. This system requires offenders to retest and pass the driving test again from the beginning.
If a driver accumulates 24 demerit points within a period of two years, he/she will be suspended from driving for three months. If he/she had been suspended before, he/she will only be allowed to accumulate less than 12 demerit points in a period of 12 months. It is a driving licence scheme where those foreigners who have their licence suspended will have their licences affected, as this is from other countries. A driving licence is a statutory requirement and is commonly used worldwide.
Currently, drivers are given demerit points if they commit certain traffic offences such as speeding and passengers not fastening their seat belts.
Roads in Singapore Electronic Road Pricing
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Singapore implemented an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme to deter traffic congestion during peak hours at various roads. The ERP scheme requires electronic gantries to be placed over the road at designated locations and that cars be equipped with an In-Vehicle Unit (IU), a rectangular device pasted on the inside bottom right of the front windscreen from the driver's view, which will deduct the toll price from a CashCard. The CashCard must be inserted into the device, and failure to do so is in violation of the law. There is no charge for entering the area during certain non-peak times.
Parking The cost of parking in many upgraded car parks can be deducted from the CashCard inserted in the IU of the vehicle, thus eliminating the need for the car park to have an attendant.
Some car parks in Singapore are equipped with overhead sensors that can detect whether the lot position is filled or not. This information is processed and displayed in signs around the car park, directing drivers to areas where there are free spaces.
‘Season Parking’ is an initiative created by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) for motorists to engage in long-term parking of their vehicles in HDB car parks. Parking lots are denoted in red and on the lower decks of the carpark. Some carparks denote an all-day parking for season parking holders only where lots are drawn full red to be utilised by season holders at all times. On other occasions, some lots are drawn red with continuing white lines to denote season parking after 7:00pm to 7.00am. Before these timing, the lot is available to the public to park as meant by the continuing white lines used in conjunction with the red box lines.
On the upper decks, full white parking lots are available to the public to park. The lower decks are reserved for season parking holders. On Sundays and Public Holidays, some carparks that are away from town centers or shopping malls may have an orange banner displayed at the entrance and within the carpark which permits free parking from 7:30am to 10:30pm.
Road signs
During British colonial rule, Singapore's road rules and legislature which govern the design and layout of the road signs were directly imported from Britain. As such, most road signs in Singapore are similar to those in the UK. For example, warning signs are depicted as red triangles and mandatory regulative signs are depicted as blue circles.
However, several aspects of road signage and traffic-calming measures adopted locally developed standards after independence. Major deviations are as follows:
1. A locally developed typeface is favoured for the road signs over the Transport typeface which was adopted in Britain.
2. In 1998, a system of black-on-yellow "curve alignment markers" was widely adopted and gradually replaced the British system of using white-on-black sharp deviation signs to delineate sharp turns. A few of the British-system signs were kept such as in Mandai Road and Suntec City.
3. In the late 1990s, all the circular regulatory signs and triangular warning signs were mounted to a one-size-fits-all square white backing board to improve visibility against a complex background like trees.
4. In the early 2000s, signs at road works were made usually black-on-orange and diamond- or rectangular-shaped, similar to the Taiwanese system.
5. Even on larger signs, road names are rarely spelt out in full. For example, "road" is almost always "Rd", "Avenue" as "Ave", "Bukit" as "Bt", "Boulevard" as "Blvd", "Close" as "Cl", "Central" as "Ctrl", "Crescent" as "Cres", "Drive" as "Dr", "Jalan" as "Jln", "Kampong" as "Kg", "Lane" as "Ln", "Lorong" as "Lor", "Upper" as "Upp", "Place" as "Pl", "Saint" and "Street" as "St", "Tanjong" as "Tg". Exceptions include roads that end with less common words, such as "walk", "hill", and "park".
Most roads, bridges, roundabouts, and tunnels are marked with signposts bearing the name of the road. The expressways in Singapore are not numbered (unlike in most other countries), but are named. Road signs abbreviate the full name of the expressway with three representative letters, such as PIE for the Pan Island Expressway or ECP for the East Coast Parkway, respectively.
All road signs in Singapore are displayed in English, except where signs are bilingual. Road names may also have a Malay origin. Typically, "Jalan" is used for "Road" and "Lorong" is used for "Lane". Multilingual road signs exist, especially for historically ethnic enclaves like Chinatown or Little India, or for landmarks. For example, some directional signs pointing to Chinese or Hindu temples are bilingual or trilingual (English, Chinese, or Tamil). Bilingual signage dates to the early days of Singapore.
Left turn or right turn at a red traffic light