A taxi driver has been sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for driving after taking ketamine.

The cab driver, Chan Hon-hoi, 29, crashed his vehicle in two separate drug-related incidents in January. He pled guilty to two counts of driving under the influence of drugs as well as to two counts of possession of dangerous drugs. Under the terms of the sentencing, Chan will be banned from driving for two years and has been ordered to take a driving-improvement course. Moreover, a two-week suspended sentence for a previous drug offence was added to his jail term.

Before imposing the sentence, District Court Judge Stephen John Geiser noted that Chan had 40 traffic convictions and that his driving record was extremely bad. In addition, he has four prior convictions, three of them relating to possession of dangerous drugs.

Geiser added that it was a serious offence for Chan, as a taxi driver, to drive while under the influence of drugs and that, therefore, the defendant needed to be fined heavily, because his actions posed a great threat to public safety. Judge Geiser added that since Chan did not learn his lesson from the first incident, the penalty had to be increased.

Chan started driving taxi in 2007. On January 2, Chan drove his taxi into a lamp post on Beacon Hill Road in Kowloon Tong. Chan was trapped inside the cab and was unable to respond normally. At the scene, police found a white residue near his nose and later confirmed he had taken ketamine.

When Chan was on bail for drug-driving, he crashed his car again in Hung Hom on January 20. He stopped his cab suddenly in the middle of a road and later ran a red light. Two backseat passengers got out when the cab stopped. When the frontseat passenger tried to pay and opened the door to alight, he drove off. The passenger was forced to leap from the moving vehicle just before it crashed into a railing.

Chan admitted that he had taken ketamine the night before the accident, but denied taking drugs while he worked.

However, Chan's blood contained 0.47 micrograms per millilitre of ketamine, tests showed.

Lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah believes the two-year driving ban for Chan is a bit lenient. "The judge gave a rather lenient sentence this time, given that the defendant has a long list of convictions," Tong said.

To combat drug-driving, the Transport and Housing Bureau is studying data from the UK and Australia and is drafting some legislative proposals to increase the penalties.

Under the existing law, any person who drives or attempts to drive a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs will be liable to three years' imprisonment and disqualification from driving.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/14/2010 page1)