A DUI in Singapore or
anywhere could have serious implications on your
future career and mobility around the
world.
DUI is most countries including Singapore is a criminal offense,
not a traffic offense and stays on the police criminal record for
eternity alongside rapists, murderers, thugs etc.
Implications of a DUI in
Singapore
- a first time offender can be fined anywhere between $1000 and
$5000 depending upon the severity of your offense ( alcohol content
in your breath/blood, aggravated circumstances etc) and a mandatory
license disqualification for at least 1 year. Starting with the
permissible limit of 35 mg in your breath a fine of $500 is added
to $1000 for every additional 5 mg, so if you have X mg of alcohol,
your fine would be $1000 + $500 * [(X-35)/5]. The same applies for
license disqualification period - 1/2 year is added for every 5 mg
of breath.
So the question is what if you exhaust the maximum fine amount of
$5000 owing to a high alcohol level ? Answer is simple - you go to
PRISON. Yes even first time offenders can go to PRISON.
And do not bother about the fine if you are involved in an
accident, you are going to PRISON for sure.
I would also recommend that you inform your employer as they would
come to know about it at some point in future . The action taken by
your employer would most probably depend upon your industry and
your past behaviour during your stint with the firm. If you are
working for the govt, there are good chance of you getting
fired.
Long term implications of
a DUI
- DUI will have severe implications on your travel abroad esp to the North Americas ( USA
and Canada ) for study/work/tourism
CANADA - As a
general rule, Canada does not admit anyone with a DUI, whether it
is a 2 year old DUI or a 20 year old DUI. So if you have a DUI, you
can safely assume that the path to Canada is closed for good.
George W Bush required a special waiver to enter Canada as he had a DUI dating to back to
1976 in Maine. I read that Canada is trying to relax the rules a
little bit if your DUI is very old but I dont see anything changing
drastically.
USA - As for
the US, a single DUI is NOT grounds to deny entry and visa
applicants with such records are investigated further. You may read
these links for further information. The visa officer upon deciding
to approve your visa requests for a waiver of inadmissability on
your behalf and it delays your application by as long as 6 months.
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answe.....i-offenses
http://www.state.gov/documents...../86942.pdf
http://www.murthy.com/2012/10/.....g-records/
However do not attempt to apply for a visa if you are still serving the
sentence ( i.e license disqualification period ). There is a very
good chance that you will get rejected. Of late I have been hearing
that US is getting more strict with applicants having DUI on their
record.
UK/Australia - I hear
that they are less strict when it comes to DUIs, but no data to
corroborate this.
"Dont drink and drive" is a old
adage which every Tom, Dick and Harry knows. But what most of us
dont know is that we need to wait for 1 day before driving if we
consume drinks.
In Singapore you could be charged for drink driving even if you are
below the limit. If there is an accident and even if you are the
innocent party and the cops find out that there are traces of
alcohol in your blood, you will be charged for drink driving and
prosecuted in court.
I am trying to spread this message on drink driving so that people
dont screw up big time and spoil their career.
If someone can review this and Sticky it, it will be of great
help and save many from screwing up big time.
The sad irony is that most people do not bother to investigate the
repercussions of a DUI until they have committed one themselves. If
the Traffic Police or some govt body publicizes this kind of
unofficial info , the number of DUI cases would definitely come
down. I tried this with TP, but in vain.