(When it comes to enforcement agencies, we have the means to start things like the ability to issue summons but we sometimes lack the means to end things. We lack the enforcement of the law. Photo by Erik Mclean from Pexels)
They must have read my post here
It was delightful to read this, a couple of days ago:-
Police have issued more than 10 million “saman ekor” (traffic offences caught on camera) since 2000 and motorists who ignored these summonses risk being hauled to the police station.
Federal Traffic Police chief SAC II Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof said police could bring those who were issued with warrants of arrest to the stations and they would only be released on police bail.
“They will also be barred from renewing their road tax and driving licences. So it’s best that they come forward and settle the summonses,” he said.
(Source)
“Saman ekor” used to be a mess when it comes to issuing summons to traffic offenders. Yes, there have been genuine mistakes done by the police in the past and since often it relies on the policeman’s oral evidence, it is your words against the policeman’s words. There is no other evidence. That is until cameras were brought in to back up the “saman ekor”. Now it is very difficult to dispute the evidence caught on camera.
Further, not getting the “summons” via post is not an excuse (if you are using this excuse, then you deserve it!). Given the current information age, anyone with the internet can check on their “summon” status online (I usually do so after a long trip outstation). I mean if they have time to log in to update their Facebook status, what more on checking whether they have an outstanding summons or not. For those who have no internet access whatsoever (ya, right!), they can always hop over to the local police station (or police counters at major shopping malls) to check on this.
Despite the police making a strong warning for those with an outstanding summons to come forward to settle them early, I wonder if the police will make good of their warning this time. There was once the police did make good of their warning to arrest those with outstanding summons (during the heydays of “saman ekor”) and driving somehow became very pleasant.
But since then, despite the threats, nothing much been done to enforce the summons on the road offenders. This is why 16 million summons amounting to RM2.7 billion remains uncollected. Shame on the police and shame on the Government! This is so when the Government is seriously considering reducing the subsidies.
Going after the road offenders will not only allow the Government to collect sizable money for expenses but also teach a good lesson on traffic offenders especially those repeated ones not to break traffic rules and make life miserable for others.
Warnings have been given; it is time for the police to act on this…