Cheaper driving, bike licences soon

JPJ says common highway code exam for both will lead to lower fee.

KEPALA BATAS: Drivers and motorcyclists will pay less for their licences once the Road Transport Department puts in a single common highway code test.

At present separate tests are held for drivers and motorcyclists.

JPJ director-general Ismail Ahmad said the department would make changes to the computer system to implement the single test as soon as possible. The Transport Ministry announced the single examination on Friday.

“I think the fee for driving licences will be lower after this,” he told reporters after a community programme here in which village folk obtained driving licences.

Among them was 75-year-old Abu Bakar Mamat, from Penaga, who finally acquired a B2 motorcycle licence. During his younger days, he did not have the opportunity to get a licence as he was merely a fisherman and lived far from town. Abdul Rahman Hasmawi, 70, said he had been riding a motorcycle without a licence in the village for the past 10 years, going to the mosque and sundry shop. “Now that I have a licence, I can ride up to the bazaar,” he said

A total of 230 residents, aged 45 and above, here obtained their licences,

On other matters, Ismail denied a media report that four people had died in a road crash in Melaka after being rammed by a car pursued by JPJ officers. He said investigations showed that four JPJ officers on patrol duty had come across the accident and provided assistance while awaiting the arrival of police.

He said a full report on the incident had been received from the police and fire department: “There were no reports that the car involved was pursued by our enforcement,” he said.

A family of four were killed when their Perodua Kancil was involved in an accident with two other cars at Kampung Bukit Gereja in Merlimau, Melaka.

– BERNAMA