Dr Wee: Transport Ministry has no plans to punish driving schools for former students' traffic offences

PETALING JAYA: There are no plans to revoke or cancel the permits of driving schools and their instructors whose former students are involved in traffic accidents, says Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

"The Transport Ministry wishes to stress that (any) action to cancel the permits of driving schools and revoke the certificates of the instructors, where many former (students) are involved in road accidents, is a personal view of the Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general and not a policy of the ministry at the moment," he said in a Facebook post on Thursday (Feb 3).

It was reported earlier this week that JPJ director-general Datuk Zailani Hashim said a system would be introduced alongside the eTesting pilot project to be implemented in April to help identify driving schools whose former students were involved in traffic violations.

Zailani said a code would be embedded on the driving licence which would identify the institute from which the traffic offenders graduated.

Dr Wee noted that any policy direction or proposal towards improvement must undergo holistic and scientific studies by the ministry.

He added such studies take into account various aspects such as feasibility and the ability to achieve the objectives of a proposal.

"The ministry does not want to point fingers arbitrarily at any parties and find fault based solely on unfounded presumptions and hypotheses," Dr Wee said.

He added that detailed studies on the matter would also require engagement with stakeholders to get their feedback and proposals for improvement.

At present, he said the ministry and agencies under its purview would continue with advocacy and enforcement activities to create safety awareness amongst road users.