M-Update,29/1/2019. SEPANG: The Transport Ministry will hold talks with the police and local authorities to stop offering discounts on traffic summonses, says its Minister Anthony Loke. “At the moment, the Road Transport Department (JPJ) has stopped offering discounts for traffic summonses as it comes under the Transport Ministry.
“There must be a similar policy and consistency, and I will convey this message to the police and local council authorities,” he added. “We don’t want to send the wrong message to the public.
“If there is a discount, they will not be bothered if penalised for their offences,” he told reporters after launching the integrated operations and road safety campaign in conjunction with the coming Chinese New Year celebrations at the Dengkil Rest and Recreational Area on Tuesday (Jan 29).
He noted that JPJ had issued 90,000 AES summonses since Sept 1 last year, of which 10,000 offenders settled their dues.
Loke said some 15,000 enforcement and highway personnel would be mobilised to keep an eye on motorists during the campaign period between Jan 29 and Feb 12. Based on statistics, he said a total of 21,041 road accidents happened during the campaign period last year compared to 20,752 accidents recorded in 2017.
Of this, he said a total of 226 fatalities were recorded during the same period last year, which was a reduction of 31 cases compared 257 fatalities recorded in 2017.”In my view, 226 death during the two week campaign period is still very high, and I hope all parties including road-users will make the effort to reduce this figure,” he said.
Apart from enforcement operations, Loke said the speed limit for state and federal roads would be reduced by 10kmph during the campaign period to 70kmph and 80kmph respectively.He also said that all road works along the highway, federal and state roads would be stopped during this period.
He added that heavy commercial vehicles would be prohibited from using the highways between Feb 2 and Fed 4 as well as between Feb 9 and Feb 10.-TheStar
