The government's proposed law amendments on harsher penalties for drunk driving will also cover other forms of reckless driving.
According to transport minister Wee Ka Siong, this includes driving under the influence of drugs, ‘basikal lajak’ (modified bicycles), and 'mat rempit' motorcycle racers.
“The proposed amendments to Section 41 to Section 45 of the Land Transport Act 1987 is mainly related to driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or dangerous driving," said Wee (above).
"Therefore, be it driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or basikal lajak or mat rempit gangs, any forms of reckless or dangerous driving will be covered in the proposed amendments to this act,” he said in a statement on social media today.
The MCA president also said the issue is not about race or religion but personal safety.
“The issue of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol has nothing to do with Muslims or non-Muslims. This is an issue of personal safety. Any final amendments to the Act are to impose more severe punishments against dangerous drivers…to prevent more needless deaths.
“Such tragedies have nothing to do with race as we all need to have more compassion towards others,” he said.
He called on Malaysians to put aside religious and political differences to support the proposed amendments.
The call for stiffer penalties has risen once more following a spike in drunk driving cases recently. This has prompted Wee to announce he is working on tougher drunk driving laws.
The previous Pakatan Harapan government was reviewing the Road Transport Act to raise penalties for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
This included increasing the jail sentence for offenders to between six and 20 years from the present three to 10 years.
Former transport minister Anthony Loke also proposed the permitted alcohol blood concentration limit be reduced to 50mg per 100ml of blood from 80mg, and offenders who cause death have their driving licenses suspended for life.
PAS leaders, meanwhile, have called for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages to be suspended while Federal Territories minister Annuar Musa called for a freeze on the issuance of licenses for the sale of liquor pending new guidelines and laws.
Opposition MPs and social activists, however, said this will not serve to deter drunk driving. - Mkini
Will smoking cigarette while driving be banned too? There are many cases where 1 hand holds the cigarette, another hand hold the steering wheel, no hand available to switch on left or right signal light! Or lighting a cigarette while driving is dangerous too.
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