Traffic cameras for Causeway in January
The Second Link will also be covered under the plan to help nab
traffic offenders with unpaid fines
MALACCA - Cameras will be installed at the Johor Causeway and the
Second Link from January to track all vehicles entering and leaving
the country.
The director-general of the Road Transport Department, Datuk Dr
Mohamed Shahar Sidek, said yesterday that the plan was part of the
RM2.9-million (S$1.37-million) Automatic Vehicle Screening System
to be introduced in the country.
It will be installed initially at the exit and entry points of
Johor. Later, it will be extended to other points along the
Malaysian border.
'Information needed on any particular vehicle captured by the
cameras will be obtained from the road transport departments of the
neighbouring countries - Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore with
which Malaysia shares land frontiers,' he said.
Dr Shahar said the vehicles would also be caught on camera as they
left the country.
Those found to have committed traffic offences while in Malaysia
would be stopped and asked to settle the summonses.
He said the cameras would also help police and Customs officials to
identify vehicles involved in criminal activities.
He said the system would not disrupt the smooth flow of traffic but
would, in fact, reduce the number of outstanding summonses
involving foreign vehicles.
Malaysia has been trying to crack down on errant motorists from
Singapore, Thailand and Brunei for unpaid traffic fines.
Earlier this month, Dr Shahar had said that summonses would be
issued immediately for any traffic violation - before motorists
were allowed to leave the country.
'This will ensure fair treatment of locals as drivers from foreign
countries would be subject to the same consequences when they
violate our laws,' he said.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung has said that foreign
vehicles account for RM130,000 in unpaid summonses every
year.
The majority of the cases involved Singapore-registered vehicles.
The gahment is considering blacklisting these vehicles and banning
them from entering the country.
He said the local police, with the help of their Singapore
counterparts, had tracked down the vehicle owners and written to
them to pay up their summonses.
However, not many had responded, he said.
'Of course the good ones, they come forward to settle, but most of
them don't give a damn, because they always feel that once they are
back in their country they are safe,' he said. -- Bernama
