Kudos for the willingness to move forward

FOR years, using Malaysian highways has meant a familiar frustration when approaching toll plazas. You slow down early, pick a lane, and hope you chose the right one. Long queues, wasted time, and unnecessary stress have become part of the national driving experience, almost as if congestion is something we are simply meant to live with.

That is why the introduction of the Automated Number Plate Registration system, now being piloted on the Hutan Kampung to Sungai Dua stretch of the North-South Expressway in Kedah and Penang, matters. It is not just a new piece of technology. It is a sign that our highway woes are not a matter of fate, but of choices, and that with the courage to rethink old habits, even long- standing problems can be fixed.