JPJ aims to half traffic-related deaths by 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: The Road Transport Department (JPJ) is determined to half the number of traffic-related deaths by 2020 and will continue strict enforcement of traffic laws to ensure road safety, even if it incurs the public's wrath in doing so.

"If we don't take stern action now, the annual rate of road deaths may increase to 10,716 by 2020. JPJ aims to minimise that projection by about 50% to 5,358 road deaths per year," said JPJ director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad, adding that it was his duty and he would do so even if it made him unpopular.

Ismail acknowledged that some quarters were unhappy with the ongoing crackdown against vehicles with strobe lights, non-regulation number plates and high intensity discharge (HID) lights.

He said advocating road safety alone was not enough, as motorists needed to be educated and disciplined into obeying the law and driving safely on the road.

Ismail said that penalising errant motorists for minor offences was a way of disciplining and deterring them from committing potentially fatal offences in the future.

"Last year, 6,915 in 477,500 accidents resulted in death. In Malaysia, one of the biggest causes of death are traffic-related offences," he added.

Ismail added that JPJ, in collaboration with the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and the police, have issued 5,000 summonses to motorists for using vehicles with strobe lights, non-regulation number plates and high intensity discharge (HID) lights so far.