NEARLY 3,400 vehicles were caught exceeding the 70kmh speed limit in the underground Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) in the first six days of its opening.

Of the lot, 45 cases exceeded 110kmh, and one vehicle - a sedan - was clocked crossing 140kmh.

Their owners will be receiving either warning letters or summonses from the Traffic Police.

The number of speedsters caught works out to a daily average of 563 - double the number of speeding cases islandwide per day.

This is partly because the tunnels have highly accurate digital laser cameras - the first of their kind used here. They never run out of film like the old models used on other expressways. And they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, unlike policemen carrying laser cameras.

The other reason for the inordinately large number of cases is that some motorists are still unaware of the new tunnels' 70kmh limit.

Photographer Bryan Van Der Beek, 31, who reckoned he might have gone faster than 70kmh, said: 'I honestly didn't see any sign, maybe because I was looking at the tunnel itself. It was my first time driving through it.''

Alvin Tan, 40, a company vice-president, said he did not see any signs warning of the presence of speed cameras. 'If the cameras are hidden and there are no signs, it's entrapment,'' he said.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.