Sabah Road Transport Department director Mohd Harris Ali checking a motorcyclist’s driving licence.
KOTA KINABALU: Driving without a valid competent driving licence (CDL) was the most common offence recorded by the Sabah Road Transport Department (RTD) during its special Chinese New Year operation.
Sabah RTD director Mohd Harris Ali revealed that during the state-level Pandu Cermat, Sampai Selamat (Drive Carefully, Arrive Safely) campaign from Jan 20 to Feb 6, a total of 26,069 vehicles were inspected, resulting in 5,695 summonses issued for various offences involving 2,498 vehicles.
“Of these, 1,220 cases (22%) involved motorists driving without a CDL, followed by 1,000 cases (18%) of expired road tax. Another 751 cases (13%) were for vehicles with no valid road tax issuance, 236 cases (4%) involved commercial vehicles operating without vocational licences, and 111 cases (2%) were caught using fancy number plates,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Feb 8).
The department also detected two cases and issued two notices under Section 59(6) of the Road Transport Act 1987 to seize vehicles.
“During the operation, 34 personnel also conducted undercover inspections as express bus passengers at 17 locations across the state. We found that operators adhered to road safety regulations,” he said.
However, Mohd Harris noted a 41% decrease in the number of registered offences compared to the same period last year, attributing it to the department’s intensified road safety awareness efforts.
He said more than 30 road safety programmes were conducted across Sabah in collaboration with the State Road Safety Council and strategic partners.
These included exhibitions, awareness talks, distribution of road safety kits, and advocacy campaigns.
Mohd Harris encouraged the public to use the MyJPJ application to lodge complaints or send reports via email to aduantrafik@jpj.gov.my or aduantrafik.sabah@jpj.gov.my.
“We will continue to monitor road users to ensure they comply with regulations,” he added.
