‘Start enforcing AES to punish offenders’

Despite the AES recording 63,558 offenders, not a single summon was issued and Consumers Association Penang is wondering why.

GEORGE TOWN: The Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) has urged the relevant authorities to stop dithering and immediately enforce the Automated Enforcement System (AES) to punish traffic offenders.

An upset CAP president Mohamed Idris stressed that AES was urgent and crucial to nab speedsters and traffic light offenders to prevent unnecessary loss of lives.

He is upset that despite its urgency, punitive action via AES has yet to see the light at the end of tunnel due to the authorities’ hesitation to enforce the system.

“The authorities should once and for all stop their flip-flops and implement and enforce the system to save lives,” he said in a statement here today.

In recent days, the authorities have reiterated their commitment to enforcing the AES soon, but a pessimistic CAP remains unconvinced, suspecting “another flip-flop could be in the making yet again.”

“AES should be enforced without further delay. Stop all these flip-flops in the name of saving lives.

“Stop dithering and continue with the implementation before we lose more lives,” said Idris.

The 2010 amendment to the Road Transport Act has paved the way for implementation of AES after a long delay.

Cameras were installed at 14 locations for the first phase and have been in operation since last month.

Within the first eight days of operation from Sept 23, 63,558 offenders were caught on camera.

No action

But what irks CAP was that no summons was issued to any offender, contrary to public announcement that summons would be issued once the first phase of AES was in full operation.

But Idris said all the public could hear now was that the system had caused a great deal of unease and confusion among motorists.

He said the relevant authorities seemed to have failed to do their homework before implementing the project.

MPs have also called for a freeze on AES to allow a further review.

But Idris insisted that there was “no justification to delay enforcement of AES for the fourth time”.