Ministry pushes for clout to impose heavier punishment on serious traffic offenders

PETALING JAYA: The Transport Ministry seeks to speed up the amendment of the Road Transport Act or Act 333 to impose heavier punishment for offenders involved in drugs, alcohol or reckless driving.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, said road safety is a serious and important matter as the roads in the country needed to be safe for all drivers.

Apart from seeking heavier punishment, another prong of road safety is advocacy, a process to encourage road users to be mindful about driving safely for themselves as well as other road users, he said.

"Various efforts were made in streamlining advocacy programmes throughout the country, especially involving commercial vehicles, including lorries, buses and trailers.

"Among them is the Safety Awareness and Focused Advocacy for Road Users (Safer) programme," he said in a Facebook post today.

He said that so far, a total of 75 programmes have been conducted under Safer.

Earlier, Dr Wee attended a road safety awareness campaign programme organised by the Johor Rock Materials Truck Operators Association.

He said road safety has been his priority since he took over as minister.