SINGAPORE — A 28-year-old man was fined S$4,500 on Thursday (April 8) for illegally riding his electric scooter on a public footpath, then crashing into a young girl while trying to evade enforcement officers from the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

Mohammad Haziq Ismail also rode his unregistered personal mobility device (PMD) on the road and against the flow of traffic.

The Singaporean, who worked as a prime-mover driver on a contract basis, pleaded guilty to committing a negligent act that endangered others’ lives or personal safety, riding a PMD on the road, and riding a non-compliant PMD on a footpath.

E-scooters have been banned from footpaths since November 2019.

The court heard that Haziq was spotted on Aug 25 last year along Woodlands Avenue 1, during the evening peak hour. He had left home to buy food at a nearby mall.

LTA officers patrolling the area approached him and told him to stop, with one flashing his identification card.

Haziq instead did a U-turn on the public footpath and collided into a seven-year-old girl, who was with her father at the time.

He wanted to escape because the authorities previously told him that his PMD was non-compliant with legal requirements — that is, it was non-UL2272 certified.

The girl did not fall and was later assessed to be fine. She did not sustain any visible injuries from the collision.

Still on his e-scooter, Haziq then cut across the grass verge, went onto a two-lane road and cut across it, going against the flow of traffic and weaving between vehicles. Several cars had to slow down or stop.

One of the LTA officers gave chase but he managed to get away. The police managed to trace him and arrested him a few months later on Jan 29.

Investigations revealed that the day after the collision, he sold his e-scooter to an unidentified man for S$450.

For committing a negligent act, he could have been jailed for up to three months or fined up to S$1,500, or both.

For riding his PMD on the road under the Road Traffic Act, he could have been fined up to S$2,000 or jailed for up to three months, or both. Repeat offenders can be fined up to S$5,000 or jailed for up to six months, or both.

Those convicted of riding a non-compliant PMD on a footpath under the Active Mobility Act 2017 can be fined up to S$10,000 or jailed for up to six months, or both.