Car child seat ruling: No summonses for first six months, says Loke

KUALA LUMPUR: No summonses will be issued to those who fail to comply with the mandatory use of child seats, Dewan Rakyat was told.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke (pic) said he has directed the Road Transport Department (JPJ) not to penalise drivers for the first six months of the new ruling that starts in January.

"The JPJ will not issue summonses to drivers without the child car seats during this period.

"Instead, the drivers will be issued warnings and reminders to install the seats," he said when winding up his ministerial replies on Budget 2020 in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 19).

He said it was necessary to impose mandatory use of child seats, as a study by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety revealed that only 30% of car drivers used child seats.

In order to encourage further use of the seats, Loke informed lawmakers that there will be no import duty for child car seats, while excise fee has been slashed to 5% from 10%.

On basikal lajak (modified bicycles), Loke welcomed any programme initiated by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to help youths involved in such activities.

However, he said JPJ would continue to enforce road safety regulations against the use of such bicycles.

"If we don't take action, we will get blamed if any accidents happen," he said.

Meanwhile, Loke said that a review is being carried out on the Road Transport Act 1987 to amend laws against drunk drivers.

He said that drunk drivers had caused 191 road fatalities last year and 212 deaths the year before.- Star