KUALA LUMPUR – The Road Transport Department (RTD) is unlikely to offer discounts or flat rates for unpaid summonses, unlike recent announcements on special settlement rates for traffic summonses issued by police.
“I follow what the prime minister has announced. If the prime minister announced (the special rate) only for police (traffic summonses), then it’s for that only,” Transport Minister Anthony Loke told The Vibes during his working visit at the Southern Integrated Transport Terminal here yesterday.
Two days ago, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the month-long RM50 special rate that starts tomorrow for traffic violators to settle outstanding summonses issued by police before 2023.
Police also recently announced an offer of up to 60% on summonses in conjunction with the 216th Police Day.
Loke was on his rounds with Bandar Tun Razak MP Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to inspect terminal operations and give out goodies to travellers.
At the media conference, Dr Wan Azizah expressed concern with the high rate of road fatalities, saying that a 2021 police report found that road crashes were the second highest cause of death among those aged 15 to 40 with 1,741 cases.
In addition, road traffic injuries have been identified as the leading cause of death for children up to the age of 14, followed by drowning and other illnesses.
Under Loke’s watch since 2018 and in his second tenure as transport minister so far, RTD has yet to initiate discounts on outstanding summonses.
Meanwhile, the RTD under former transport minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong had two years ago offered discounts up to 70% for 3.5 million outstanding summonses, with the exception of cases that were brought to court.
As a result, the department recorded RM3.147 million in revenue during the two-week celebration of RTD’s 75th anniversary and the discounts continued until the end of 2021 with RM6.47 million collected. – The Vibes, April 20, 2023
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