The government plans to table amendments to the Road Transport Act 1987 at the Dewan Rakyat sitting in October to combat illegal racing and Mat Rempits (illegal motorcycle racers) menace in the country.
Deputy Home Minister ll Jonathan Yasin said the proposed amendments include action against the spectators of illegal racing and penalties against workshops that modify motorcycles to be used for illegal racing.
"There was a discussion on Aug 8 and some proposals were submitted by the Home Ministry to the Transport Ministry on enacting the proposed amendments so that penalties can be increased.
"The existing fines or prison sentences need to be increased. However, this is still under discussion and is likely to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat," he said during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara today.
The supplementary question came from Senator N Balasubramaniam on amendments to the law to combat illegal racing as well as the number of operations conducted against this menace.
Jonathan said that based on the “Operasi Samseng Jalanan” (operations against road thugs) conducted by the Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Department (JSPT), a total of 1,451 offenders were arrested from January 2022 until June.
Drag circuit? No thanks
According to him, 1,258 summonses were also issued and 2,200 vehicles got seized for investigation.
On Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's proposal for a special circuit for drag racing to be built in each state, Jonathan said the proposal was good to boost motorsports activities.
However, he said feedback from the state governments showed the idea received little enthusiasm from young people, including in Penang and Selangor which already have special circuits.
- Bernama
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.