KenaSaman.com

Discount deadline over, 17.3 million traffic summonses yet unpaid

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 17.3 million traffic summonses remain unpaid, despite the 50% discount offered to offenders until Monday.

"So those who have not paid their summonses, they have been blacklisted, effective today," Bukit Aman traffic chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof told a media conference here Tuesday.

He said of the 49.4 million summonses issued by the police since 2000, only 65% or 31.9 million had been settled.

A total of 1.5 million summonses were settled by traffic offenders the past week, he said, adding that a total of 5.5 million summonses were paid during the discount period beginning Aug 12 last year until Monday.

Blacklisted traffic offenders would have problems renewing their driving licence and road tax, SAC Abdul Aziz said.

He also said that effective Tuesday, motorists issued with summonses would be blacklisted if they did not pay up in two months. - Bernama

Meanwhile, RASHITHA A. HAMID reports that The Transport Ministry was expected to announced the amount of money collected soon.

SAC Abdul Aziz, who declined to reveal the amount, said more than 60% of the summonses issued were for speeding offences.

On complaints of a breakdown in the payment system on Monday, SAC Abdul Aziz said it was due to the high usage.

He also said traffic offenders should not blame the police for not being able to settle their summonses online and at police stations due to the heavy traffic.

Road users should have been more responsible and paid their summonses early as a long period was given to them, he added.

"The Government gave the public ample time to settle their summonses with a discount, yet they failed to make full use of the opportunity," he added.

Read the full article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... sec=nation

Those who have not paid remaining 17mil summonses to face the music

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite a six-month grace period to settle their summonses with a 50% discount, 17.3 million summonses remain unpaid.

The affected traffic offenders will now be blacklisted and they must pay the full amount of their fines to be removed from the list.

More than 60% of summonses issued were for speeding offences, Federal Traffic Chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof said.

Since 2000, almost 49.4 million summonses were issued for various traffic offences. As of Monday, 65% (31.9 million) summonses were settled.

(The 50% discount for traffic summonses announced by the Government in August last year ended on Monday.)

He said police received payment for 5.5 million summonses throughout the country during the discount period.

He, however, refused to reveal the total amount collected.

It is learnt that the Transport Ministry would soon announce the total sum collected.

Effective yesterday, traffic offenders who failed to settle their summonses within two months of the date of issue would be automatically blacklisted.

Even those with summonses which previously did not warrant a blacklist will now be automatically blacklisted if they are not paid up within 60 days.

“Menial offences such as parking haphazardly would also be subjected to an automatic blacklist following the new guidelines,” SAC Abdul Aziz told a press conference in Bukit Aman yesterday.

However, traffic offenders will have an opportunity to enjoy a discount if they pay up their summonses within one month.

The payment period is divided into three stages – the first is from Day One of the offence to the 15th day; from Day 16-30, and the final time frame from the 31st day to the 60th day.

For offences involving bad driving habits which could cause accidents, a motorist will be fined RM150 if he pays within the first 15 days; RM200 (16 to 30 days) and RM300 (31 to 60 days) respectively.

For small capacity motorcycles, the fines are RM100, RM150 and RM250 respectively.

The amount will be multiplied if offences are committed three times or more within two months.

There will be no reduction in fines for serious offences which cause accidents and deaths.

SAC Abdul Aziz voiced his frustration with traffic offenders who blamed police for not being able to settle their summonses online and or at police stations due to heavy traffic.

He said road users should have been more responsible and pay up early.

“The Government had given the public ample time to settle their summonses with a discount, yet they failed to make full use of the opportunity,” he added.

To accommodate the heavy traffic on Monday, the police even extended the operation time at the traffic counters nationwide until mid-night.

In GEORGE TOWN, police collected a staggering RM1.1mil in traffic fines on the last day of the 50% discount offer period.

State Police Traffic Operations chief Deputy Supt Abdul Rahim Md Din said the amount accounted for over 18% of the total collection of RM6.1mil last month.

The RM1.1mil collected, he said, was an all-time high for a single day for the Penang traffic division.The previous best was RM500,000.

He said the RM6.1mil collected was paid for 73,620 summonses while the RM1.1mil involved 12,817 summonses.

On Monday, thousands of traffic offenders had to endure a long wait at post offices and police stations in order to make a last-minute effort to settle their summonses.

Read the full article:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?fi ... sec=nation

17m traffic summonses not paid despite discount offer

KUALA LUMPUR: The deadline to pay traffic summonses at a discount has passed but a staggering 17 million summonses have not been paid.

These offenders will be blacklisted and cannot renew their driving licences or vehicle road tax.

Federal traffic police chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof, who released the figures yesterday, said only 65 per cent of the 49.4 million summonses dating from 2000 had been paid by Monday’s deadline.

The offer of discounts to settle summonses started last December.

Last August, the cabinet warned that motorists who did not settle their outstanding summonses by Feb 28 would be blacklisted.

Aziz said at a press conference in Bukit Aman that since the announcement, 5.5 million summonses were settled. Last week alone, 1.5 million summonses were cleared.

Before last week, an average of 31,520 summonses were paid every day. Last week, the average was six times more (187,417).

On Monday, 375,248 summonses were paid. Aziz declined to reveal the amount collected.

He said the figures were disappointing as many motorists still took the matter lightly.

“We had hoped that more people would settle their summonses with the discounts, but the figure shows that a large number disregarded this.” Aziz said he was also unhappy that many had waited until the last minute to settle their summonses, as shown by the huge crowds which thronged police stations nationwide.

On Monday, several online systems crashed for several hours because of the massive online traffic. Droves of people queued up in police stations and post offices to pay their summonses until midnight.

“People like to wait until the last minute to settle their summonses although we have given them ample time,” said Aziz.

Those with outstanding summonses have been blacklisted starting yesterday.

“That excludes those who receive summonses from today.” Aziz said summonses issued from March 1 would follow the new rates, which were announced last month.

Under the new traffic compound rates, the longer the payment for a summons is delayed, the more the offender has to pay.

Those who commit four offences or more within two months will have to pay double the fine.

Read the full article:
http://www.nst.com.my/articles/Stubborn ... s/Article/

NUR Hamimi Othman breathed a sigh of relief when the government announced the new deadline to settle traffic summonses with a 50 per cent discount.

Having three summonses to settle, the 27-year-old had tried to make the payments online and at the post office before the original Feb 28 deadline but could not because of the crowds.

"I tried to pay last week but the online system wasn't working. I went to the post office but it was so crowded that they quickly ran out of queue numbers for us to pay," she said when met at Pos Malaysia's main office in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

For S. Rajarathinam, 34, an unpleasant surprise was in store for him when he tried to renew his road tax last week. "I only knew about my offence when the Road Transport Department officer told me."

The accounts clerk said he went to the Jalan Tun H.S. Lee police station to settle his fine but the place was crowded.

Student Sean Tan, 22, said he did not know he could settle traffic fines at post offices.

"I had trouble accessing the MyEG Services or Rilek E-Services to pay online. So I went to the traffic police station (in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee), but they were out of queue numbers by 11am.

Read the full article:
http://www.nst.com.my/articles/13gaum/Article/

FROM traffic summonses to income tax returns, Malaysians have traditionally needed multiple reminders to get matters settled before the deadlines.

The recent rush to police stations, post offices and online counters to settle traffic summonses was the latest display of the behaviour that many members of the public have dubbed "typically Malaysian".

But the problem did not stop at procrastination for most Malaysians, said sociologist Prof Dr Abdul Hadi Zakaria.

The professor from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Kuala Terengganu said it was "the unwillingness of Malaysians to react to anything that is not favourable to them".

"People here do not want to react until they are required by law to do so. Although it does happen in other societies, it is more profound here."

He said the majority of Malaysians wouldn't react to repeated reminders from authorities because there was no necessity to do so.

Hadi added that such behaviour was fuelled by lenient enforcement that did not put enough pressure on people to settle their dues on time.

"It is as if people expect the authorities to extend deadlines as is the case here," he said.

Malaysia Crime Prevention Council vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said while a deadline extension would help those who were late, it was not advisable to make such offers often.

He said traffic offenders should make it a point to pay early and not wait for discounts.

"This is unfair to those who have taken the trouble to pay early. This is not a healthy trend. We must not end up in a situation where a lack of respect for the law results in a situation where it would cost the (government) more in terms of extra work."

Lee said procrastination among Malaysians needed to be looked at very seriously. He said it was equally important for the authorities to provide an avenue for appeal.

Read the full article:
http://www.nst.com.my/articles/13tax/Article/