DENGKIL: If you are on the road during the Chinese New Year period, there are seven offences which will not be compoundable.
These offences, during the two-week period that the nationwide traffic and safety operation known as Op Bersepadu takes place, will land you straight in court.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the seven offences are: queue-jumping; overtaking on double lines; beating traffic lights; speeding; using handphones while driving; not wearing seatbelts or helmets; and, driving in emergency lanes.
He said the strict enforcement of these laws, as well as other measures, was being done in an attempt to bring down the number of road crashes and deaths each festive season.
Loke said the road safety literacy rate on highways had yet to reach a satisfactory level, based on the 119 deaths recorded during the same operation during last year's Chinese New Year celebrations.
The daily rates, too, were unsatifactory, with police statistics for 2021 showing 370,286 crashes and 4,539 deaths.
Police statistics between January and September last year, said Loke, recorded 402,626 road crashes with 4,379 deaths.
"The number of road crashes in this country (being at such a high level) is not something new. The amount is still at a very worrying level," he said at the launch of the nationwide road safety campaign and Op Bersepadu in conjunction with the Lunar New Year at the Dengkil rest area.
Also present were Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi, Works Ministry secretary-general Datuk Wan Uzir Ahmad Wan Sulaiman and Transport Ministry secretary-general Datuk Jana Santhiran Muniayan.
Op Bersepadu begins tomorrow and will last till Jan 28.
Loke said the four main thrusts of the campaign were education and advocation; enforcement; prevention; and monitoring and assessment.
He said 2,000 Road Transport Department enforcement officers would be on duty nationwide and among the intiatives which will be undertaken would be to place undercover officers on express buses, monitoring via centralised enforcement stations in 14 areas on highways.
"Prior to the launch of the operation, we also put buses through inspections at 77 depots and 28 bus terminals so as to ensure that these vehicles were roadworthy," he said.
Loke said heavy vehicles were also banned on highways on Jan 20 and 21 and Jan 24 and 25 — just before and just after Chinese New Year — as traffic was expected to peak during those days.