Stopped For Riding With Expired Motorcycle Insurance
Motor vehicles are to be insured in order to operate it on the road. It’s a yearly affair which should not be missed. Failing to renew vehicle insurance and road tax would result in a court order followed by a hefty fine and a mandatory disqualification of license. Well, at least that was what I went through. Here’s what happened…
Have you ever been caught in a situation where many agencies are requesting for payments and you, as a sole breadwinner, is trying your best to make ends meet? Well I was in that situation when the incident happened. I was caught between making payment for my wife’s medical bills and also my motorcycle insurance. If no payments made to either one, my wife cannot dialyze and I cannot ride to earn an income.
Obviously I am making a gamble by riding with an expired motorcycle insurance. I guess luck wasn’t on my side that day thus I was stopped at a roadblock along Jurong Canal Drive. A hotspot for roadblocks by enforcement officers. I was then advised by the enforcement officer to push my motorcycle to the nearest parking lot, send my wife for dialysis and go public.
Months passed and I thought all is fine until 3 to 4 months into the pandemic, I received a letter from the investigation division of the enforcement agency.. That’s when they requested me to come down for an investigation interview. On 4 September 2020, I attended the interview and requested a waiver but was declined.
After the interview was completed, the pursuit to request for waiver through community leaders begins. Appeal after appeal submitted, all of them declined. So much for a clean riding record.
After much consideration, I decided to just face the music. I attended the final court hearing on 22 April 2021. I was given a SGD$1200 fine and a MANDATORY disqualification of all classes for 12 months. Read more about it here.
I am sharing this so that riders would have a rough idea of the severity of the offence. Do not ride/drive with an expired vehicle insurance or road tax. Instead, rent a vehicle if you do not wish to go public.
