‘We have not summoned students’

IPOH: The Road Transport Department (RTD) has denied a social media posting saying that its enforcement officers had issued summonses to students who rode motorcycles to schools for various offences. The posting has since gone viral.
"The postings claimed the government was running short of funds as the reason for the personnel to go to the schools to haul them up," JPJ director-general Datuk Seri Nadzri Siron said after presenting "B2" learner motorcycle licences here today.
"Visiting the schools was not to issue any summonses but part of our task to create awareness among the teenagers on the need to get licences and adhere to traffic rules and regulations," he added.
A total of 391 motorcyclists above the age of 45 from rural areas and Orang Asli in Kinta district obtained the licences under the department's "One Community One RTD" initiative.
Nadzri said the project at the schools, known as "Safety and Enforcement Against School Students" programme, is jointly organised by RTD, Road Safety Department, Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research and the Education Ministry.
"We picked three schools from each state in the country to implement the programme from March 28 to 31. We found 764 students riding motorcycles without licences and 346 without helmets," he added.
"The department also called up the students' parents to explain to them the importance of obtaining the licences."