Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai today said he agreed with Inspector General Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s call to increase traffic fine of RM300 to reduce the number of road accidents in the country.

Liow said the ministry viewed the matter seriously adding that the number of deaths is on the rise every year.

He said in 2015, a total of 6,607 people had died in road accidents.

He added the police’s efforts to upgrade the traffic unit to a special department are an initiative which can reduce road accidents.

“The Transport Ministry is taking this matter seriously with the increasing number of road accidents. We are now updating the enforcement of the Road Transport Department (RTD) with the help of the police,” said Liow.

He said the overall plan is to re-enforce the Automatic Enforcement System (AES) and the KEJARA demerit system where action would be taken on all errant drivers by having their
licence suspended.

He believed that the enforcement of the KEJARA system would be more effective compared to the current fines which many disregard.

Liow said various promotions are being done including cooperating with various non-government agencies (NGO) by the ministry to ensure more awareness among the people.

On Wednesday, Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the police may suggest to increase the RM300 traffic summons to a higher amount.

We will increase enforcement as that is the only way to change the attitude of the people. Maybe we will suggest to increase the compound amount as motorists seemed to have no problems in paying the current RM300,” he said at the Bukit Aman police headquarters.

Khalid is confident a higher compound would change the attitude of the road users.