Motorists pay RM1.24 mln in fines for illegal parking

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SIBU: Motorists here threw away a whopping RM1.24 million in fines for illegal parking in the first half of this year.

Confirming this yesterday, Sibu police chief ACP Shafie Ismail said this was a huge sum that could have been better spent on community building than for paying for the irresponsible attitude of motorists.

He said, during the same period, policemen also gave out more than 10,000 summonses to offenders for illegal parking.

“I feel saddened by this high figure, which shows illegal parking in Sibu is very serious. I hope motorists will refrain from this offence. Let us improve the traffic situation together to make Sibu a pleasant town.”

The police chief said the people have another reason to avoid committing traffic offences.

“The fines are dearer now. Do not waste money in such manner.”

For car owners, he said the fine is RM150 if it is paid within two weeks.

“If he pays from days 15 to 29, he has to pay RM200, and if he pays from day 30 onwards, he will be paying RM300.”

On the other hand, he said a motorcycle owner will be fined RM100 if he pays within the first two weeks; RM150 if he pays between day 15 and 29, and RM250 if he pays from day 30 onwards.

The police chief attributed two reasons for the rampant illegal parking here.

“The main factor is the attitude of motorists. They just want convenience. For example, drivers often dash into shops for a quick shopping while leaving their engines on as they park on yellow lines.”

He also advised traffic offenders to pay early to avoid paying higher fines, saying in the first half of this year, a total of 15,031 illegal parking summonses had been settled.

The following is the breakdown of illegal parking summonses given out from January to June – 2,313 cases in January, 1,595 (Feb), 1911 (March), 2,253 (May) and 2,340 (June).

The number of summonses settled are 2,508 (Jan), 4,541 (Feb), 4,166 (March), 961 (April), 1,513 (May) and 1,387 (June).

The amount of fines paid are RM156,190 (Jan), RM357,190 (Feb), RM355,760 (March), RM144,690 (April), RM20,221 (May) and RM205,930 (June).