(A simple question – if there are 2 situations where the fine amount is different – one is RM300 and another RM1,000, in which situation you think will make this offender who is using the emergency lane to cut queue to think twice? Photo by Erik Mclean from Pexels)
In the beginning, there was this story:-
The maximum fine for traffic offences will be raised from RM300 to RM1,000 upon the enforcement of the amended Road Transport Act 1987.
(Source: Bernama)
At first, I was kind of happy that the maximum fine limit will be increased – logically higher fines should be mean fewer traffic offenders and fewer traffic offenders means fewer idiots on the road causing problems to other road users.
Then I think about it and realised that whilst it is good that the fine amount has increased, there is still the question of enforcement that need to be resolved. I mean there is no point if the fine has increased to RM1,000 but the traffic offenders are not being caught red-handed to pay the fine, right?
It may look like we are back to square one but it is not.
Remember, we can help with the enforcement by posting the traffic offenders in action to JPJ for further action. The more traffic offenders are got caught on camera by the rest of the law-abiding road users, the more traffic offenders will be made to pay the maximum fine of RM1,000.
And in due course, instances of traffic offences will come down drastically as RM1,000 is not small to pay. Meantime, the Government can improve on the issue of enforcement and one of the ways that they are already looking into is Automated Enforcement System (AES).
Then the flip flop happens.
Read this crap:-
The Road Transport (Amendment) Bill which proposes compounds for traffic summonses to be increased from RM300 to RM1,000, will be withdrawn
He (Nazri Abd Aziz) said the backbenchers had written to him, saying that the three proposed amendments were “not people-friendly.”
“Many people have complained to me that the fines are excessive and the amount is more than they can afford,” he (Lim Guan Eng) told reporters at the Parliament lobby
(Source: TheStar)
When I read the “reasons” behind the flip-flop, I was lost for words. What kind crap that the backbenchers took for breakfast? What did Lim Guan Eng smoke before he started talking to the reporters?
We are talking about ROAD OFFENDERS here and not law-abiding citizens. Road offenders who pass through “No-Entry” roads on a regular basis, bastards who use the emergency lane as their private lane when there is a traffic jam, idiots who park their cars rather hazardously in completely ignorant of other road users. These are not ordinary people! These are the scumbags on the road.
If the Government had proposed an arbitrary increase in income tax for example, then we can say that the move is not “people-friendly”. But an increase of fines to ensure that number of traffic offenders will reduce in due course is “people-friendly”.
It is because these are road users who are repeated traffic offenders. No amount of advice, education and cursing can turn them into law-abiding road users. They are the kind of people who think that their use of the road is more important than other people.
They are the kind of people who will laugh at traffic laws and confident that they can get away with it. For some, RM300 is chicken feed – they can afford to pay it on a regular basis. And so, why the law should be soft on them?
Fuck the bench benchers and equally brainless MPs on their calls to withdraw the increase of fine to RM1,000. The increase of fine to RM1,000 is PEOPLE-FRIENDLY. It is only not “traffic offender-friendly’ and screws the whole lot for crying foul.
Lim Guan Eng said that “many people have complained to me that the fines are excessive and the amount is more than they can afford”. I say to these people who “complained” to Lim Guan Eng on this – abide by traffic laws and no one has to pay anything in fine.
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The chicken and egg story again.
How can you be kind and strict at the same time?