The Road Transport Department now has powers to take action
against drivers with unpaid traffic summonses.
By Admin
KUALA LUMPUR: The Road Transport Department (RTD) now
has powers to suspend or revoke the licenses of drivers with unpaid traffic
summonses, after its failure to blacklist the bus driver responsible for the
Aug 21 Genting Highlands’ fatal road accident.
The bus driver, Lim Kok Ho, had
16 unpaid traffic summonses prior to the crash – 15 for speeding and one for
obstructing traffic – and was allowed to continue driving because he had yet to
be prosecuted in court.
“The RTD has set up a new
section called the driver’s profile section which allows the RTD to suspend or
revoke the driving license of drivers via the demerit system, to suspend or
revoke the license of drug addicts, and of those with unpaid traffic summonses.
“This section replaces the
current Kejara system which only allows the RTD to suspend and revoke the
licenses based on the demerit system,” Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz
Kaprawi (BN-Sri Gading) told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question
from Liow Tiong Lai (BN-Bentong) on the steps taken by the Transport Ministry
to ensure a repeat of the road accident did not occur.
“With this new profiling
system, we will be able to profile dangerous drivers and take action against
those drivers with many summonses, who may endanger the lives of others,”
assured Abdul Aziz.
Apart from the profiling
system, the deputy transport minister said the Land Public Transport Commission
(SPAD) had set up new guidelines for bus operators at highland areas.
In a Sept 9 circular, all buses
must be equipped with closed circuit cameras (CCTVs) at the dashboard to record
the drivers’ actions throughout the journey. The CCTV recordings must be stored
for at least a week.
Bus drivers are now required to
have at least three years’ experience driving a public transportation vehicle
and must record their journey using the global positioning system (GPS).
The bus operators will monitor
the bus’ journey through the GPS, and are to ensure that the drivers adhere to
road rules, especially the speed limit. Bus operators must take action against
drivers that violate the road rules.
Thirty six passengers and the
bus driver were killed when their bus plunged into a 200-foot ravine on the way
down from Genting Highlands. It was the worst road accident in Malaysian
history. fmt
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