KEPALA BATAS: The police will intensify enforcement and enhance road safety awareness campaigns in an effort to address the rising number of fatal accidents involving motorcyclists, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
With Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim also raising concern over the issue, the Home Minister said he had personally discussed the matter with Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain and would take immediate action.
"The Prime Minister raised the issue during last week's Cabinet meeting, with specific instructions to two parties: first, to Deputy Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) as chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Road Safety, and secondly to the Home Ministry, which I addressed in a post-Cabinet briefing.
"We have directly communicated the issue with the police, with the Bukit Aman Traffic Division and Tan Sri Razarudin, emphasising the basics, namely road safety awareness campaigns at schools, grassroots and community levels to address the problem," he told reporters after the ministry's event at Dewan Millenium here on Friday (Aug 9), which was also attended by Razarudin and Penang police chief Datuk Hamzah Ahmad.
On Tuesday, Anwar expressed concern over the high accident rate among motorcyclists, which was believed to be due to weak law enforcement and road maintenance issues.
Elaborating further, Saifuddin Nasution said that the Home Ministry would also review existing legal provisions used in efforts to reduce the number of accidents involving motorcyclists in the country.
"We will also intensify enforcement, including the issuance of summonses, and based on records, the total estimated amount of summonses issued to date has reached RM2.18bil.
"If this value is used as an indicator, it proves that the number of summonses issued is indeed high. At the same time, motorcycle accident rates have also increased," he said. – Bernama
