RTD to come down hard on offenders this festive season with introduction of Ops Jalan

PUTRAJAYA: The Road Transport Department (RTD) will introduce its first "Ops Jalan" during the year-end holidays in its bid to reduce road accidents and take stern actions against traffic offenders.
Its enforcement director Datuk V. Valluvan Velloo said the operation, which would involve 1,500 enforcement officers, would take place between Dec 24 and 26, and Dec 30, 2016 and Jan 2, 2017.
"To ensure the success of this operation, we have instructed all state RTDs that the compound rates would be maximum for any traffic offences. No appealing, and no lesser," he said.
Valluvan added that any vehicles found not to be complying to the permitted technical specifications, including custom exhausts and illegal tinted glass, would be seized for a period of not more than 48 hours for examination purposes.
He said Ops Jalan would be the first of many to be held during all long holidays in the country's calendar year. Previously, RTD only held operations during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Chinese New Year festive periods.
Valluvan said among the strategies RTD would use include a round-the-clock patrol and random checks on vehicles on selected roads, disguising as civilians while taking pictures of offenders, and a crackdown on motorcycles with illegal specifications.
"We will do checks on buses at all main bus terminals including their brakes and tyres, and even do random urine tests on drivers.
"We will also be disguising as passengers to record any offences until we reach the end destination. However, I would like to stress that there will be no road blocks during this period, to ensure no further traffic congestions," he added.
He also noted that there are about 19 road fatalities on average recorded this year, similar to last year.
Meanwhile, Valluvan said RTD has taken action against more than 7,000 emergency lane abusers since May this year, 1,700 of which were reported by road users themselves.
He noted that since the department started the crackdown in May, there has been a marked decrease in those driving on the emergency lanes.
"When we started, there were hundreds of cases reported each week, but in November, there are only about one or two per day. Summons produced have decreased by about 70%," he said.