PETALING JAYA: Committing any of the eight major traffic offences during the Chinese New Year festive rush can be very costly as the offenders will be hauled straight to court.
The Road Transport Department (RTD) and the traffic police have come up with a list of offences that are not compoundable during the Chinese New Year operations.
Those who commit these offences can be jailed up to six months or can be fined up to RM2,000.
The offences that are not compoundable on both the RTD and police list are driving on emergency lane, overtaking on double-lines, jumping queue and traffic lights, and using the mobile phone while driving.
Police have added speeding to the list, while RTD added failure to wear safety belt and hogging the right lane (applicable for public transport) on its list.
RTD’s Ops Tahun Baru Cina and the police’s Ops Selamat 10/2017 has been implemented from Jan 21 to Feb 5.
Traffic police has put up its list of non-compoundable offences on its Facebook, while the RTD director Datuk V. Valluvan Veloo provided the list in a circular sent to state directors.
In a letter to state RTD directors dated Jan 20, he said the special directive superseded an earlier directive issued calling for maximum fines to be imposed, except for driving on the emergency lane that warranted mandatory court action as stipulated in a circular issued last year.
“Order to take court action against those driving on emergency lane, and obstructing enforcement agency vehicles is enforced continuously (even after the festive celebration),” he said.
Valluvan said the RTD director-general had issued the special order to take the offenders to court under various sections of the Road Transport Act 1987 and Road Traffic Rules 1959.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/01/26/police-and-rtd-warn-road-offenders-its-straight-to-court-if-you-commit-any-of-eight-major-traffic-of/#B2LUIk9WGpsoei3i.99