TRANSPORT MINISTER SLIGHTED OVER NO CONSULTATION ON TRAFFIC FINES REDUCTION asked CABINET to Defer DECISION-CHAN KONG CHOY -What a Wet Blanket?
ABOVE: The Minster laughing at the reduction in fines; BELOW: The "Extortion" Branch Headquaters at Jalan Bandar
Transport Minister i Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy is a wet blanket. Having been slighted by Internal Security and Public Order Director Commissioner Datuk Mustafa Abdullah, he had exerted his weight as a Minisetr and asked the Cabinet to defer the decision.
The speed limits are very outdated in a great number of places and are essentially “speed traps zone” for all motorists. When the roads are widened to accommodate speedier movement of traffic, speed limits should be adjusted to reflect on the better road conditions.
What is outdated is the Road Ordinance which should undergo a detailed study and the appropriate clauses be amended.
PUTRAJAYA, Sept 6 (Bernama) -- Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy Wednesday said that the Cabinet had decided to postpone the move by police to reduce fines for traffic summonses.
He said the decision was made on the grounds that the fines imposed on traffic offenders were meant to be a deterrent not as a source of income to the government.
The matter was discussed today in the Cabinet before the decision was taken, he told reporters before chairing the ministry's post Cabinet meeting, here.
However, Chan said that he had been directed by the Cabinet to hold meetings with the relevant stakeholders to discuss a possible review of the reduced fines for traffic summonses issued by the police on Monday.
The Deposit Counters at the Traffic "Extortion"
These would include his ministry, the Internal Security Ministry, and the Police, he said.
Yesterday, Chan had said that the decision by the police to slash traffic fines had not gone down well with his ministry as it was not consulted on the matter.
On Monday, the Police announced reductions in traffic fines of between 50 and 70 percent for various offences including speeding, driving without a license and beating red lights.
The Police said that the move was aimed at discouraging Malaysians from trying to bribe traffic police to escape high fines.
, however, had insisted that the police had the right to reduce the rates and did not need to consult any ministry or agency beforehand.
Chan reiterated that the police were an important partner to the ministry in road safety and enforcement drives but was of the opinion that the ministry should not be left out in any decision or changes being made on the matter.
He said he wanted the police to explain to him the reason behind the move.
"They may have their own reason for making the decision and I want to know the whole story," he told reporters at the lobby of Parliament, here.
"This matter is a big decision and should have been referred to the ministry responsible for road safety," he said.
The police move would be raised at the next Cabinet meeting, he said.
Monday, the police announced up to 70 per cent discount in the quantum of fines for various traffic offences to encourage the offenders to pay up, and said the amounts might be retained permanently should there be encouraging response.
Chan said he was concerned that the discount offer would send the wrong signal to motorists, perhaps giving the impression to hardcore offenders that the government would be flexible with traffic offences.
He stressed that the objective of imposing big fines was to prevent the public from flouting traffic laws and not as a source of income for the government.
"Keep your money. We don't want even a sen. What we want is for the people to drive carefully and safely," he said
Internal Security and Public Order director Datuk Mustafa Abdullah said, from today, summonses issued would be lower than before.
"However, traffic offenders who received their summonses earlier must pay according to the old rates to avoid legal complications," he told reporters at his office at Bukit Aman here, Monday.
However, there would be no reduction for serious offences such as fatal accidents, drunken driving, underaged driver, irresponsible and dangerous driving, no insurance and illegal racing.
The compounds for those on whom warrants of arrest had been issued is double the amount offered but not exceeding RM300.
"The new rates will be maintained if response from the public is good," Mustafa said.
Asked whether the reduction would encourage more motorists to break rules, he said this depended on the people's perception.
"However, this move will enable us to stop wasting energy carrying out Ops Warta and going after offenders against whom warrants of arrest have been issued or who have failed to pay old summonses," he said.
Furthermore, there would be no more need for offenders to ask for reductions because the amounts they had to pay were already low, he added.
He said motorists could refer to their summonses through SMS addressed to Dapat or 32728 using the "saman alert" system.
To subscribe to Saman alert, one must type POLIS SAMAN, space, followed by the vehicle number.
The following offences can be paid according to the new rates:
* Accidents, except those that cannot be compounded. The earlier rate for all types of vehicles was RM300. The current rates for buses and lorries are RM200, cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs (RM150) and motorcycles (RM100).
* Speeding for which the earlier compound was RM150. Now, for lorries and buses (RM90), cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs (RM70) and motorcycles (RM50).
* Not wearing seat belts. Earlier for taxis, RM150, vans RM80 and cars RM70. Now RM50 for all types.
* For not wearing crash helmets, the compound is reduced from RM70 to RM30.
* Illegal "U" turn, dangerous overtaking, overtaking at lines, and driving along emergency lanes, the rates for buses and lorries reduced from RM200 to RM90 while for cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs reduced from RM100 to RM50.
* For beating traffic lights, the compound for lorries and buses is RM200, for cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs RM150, while for motorcycles RM100.
* Using handphones while driving, the old rates for buses and lorries were RM200, cars, vans, taxis and 4WDs RM100, and for motorcycles RM70. The new rates for lorries and buses are RM90, cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs RM70 and motorcycles RM50.
* Not giving way before turning, the old rates for lorries and buses were RM200, cars, vans, taxis and 4WDs RM100, and motorcycles RM70. The new rates RM90, RM70 and RM50 respectively.
* Not having driving licence and not displaying road tax: The old rates were RM150 for lorries and buses, RM80 for cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs, and RM70 for motorcycles. The new rates are RM90 for lorries and buses, RM70 for cars, taxis, vans and 4WDs and RM30 for motorcycles.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said he understood that the Works Ministry was given a huge allocation to improve road safety features at these spots.
"This is an engineering effort in addition to the educational and enforcement efforts by us to reduce road accidents," he said in the Dewan Rakyat here when replying to Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh (BN-Gopeng) on the total allocation for road safety and road safety campaigns.
Chan said the increase in the number of vehicles of about one million a year posed a big challenge to the ministry in reducing road accidents in the country.
"We license about 400,000 new drivers every year. So cumulatively, we have 15 million vehicles with about 10 million drivers.
"Therefore, to overcome this problem is not easy. That is why I always say that this is a huge challenge for my ministry."
He said the ministry had taken various measures to reduce road accidents, including through educational and enforcement campaigns as well as adding extra motorcycle lanes and promoting the use of public transport.
Chan said as a result of the road safety campaigns, the fatality rate of road accidents over the last 10 years had dropped from 8.2 to 4.2 fatalities for every 10,000 registered vehicles.
He said although the allocation for road safety campaigns had increased in the past two years, there remained between 10 and 15 per cent of road users in the high-risk category, who frequently violated traffic laws.
"The government is aware that getting this high-risk group to change their attitude will take some time, and for them the educational programmes must be conducted along with a watertight enforcement system."
Chan said for those who refused to change, the government would introduce an e-enforcement system that would raise the chances of action against these traffic offenders to 95 per cent against the 16-25 per cent under the conventional method.
"The government has targeted to reduce the fatality rate by 50 per cent or two fatalities per 10,000 vehicles by 2010."
He said the ministry had also carried out special educational programmes for motorcyclists and pillion riders as the group was the most at risk.
"About 60 per cent of the fatal cases that we see everyday comes from this group," he added.
posted by multidimid at 7:22 PM
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