KOTA KINABALU: A youth, charged with driving a bus without licence and failing to report an accident to the nearest police station within 24 hours, was yesterday fined RM1,100, in default, three months’ jail by the Traffic Court here.
Magistrate Mohd Faiz Omar fined Azhar Darman, 20, after he pleaded guilty to both charges.
On the first count, Azhar was charged under Section 26 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, i.e. driving the bus without a licence at Batu 7, Jalan Tuaran on April 28, 2013, which is punishable with a fine of up to RM2,000 or a jail term of up to six months, if convicted. For this, the accused was fined RM300, in default, one month’s jail.
On the second count, Azhar was charged under Section 52 (2) of the Road Transport Act 1987, and punishable under Section 119 (2) of the same Act, for failing to report to the police about an accident at the same time and place, which is punishable with a fine of up to RM2,000 or a jail term of up to six months, upon conviction. For this offence, he was fined RM800, in default, two months’ jail.
Traffic prosecuting officer Inspector Hanif Mamyudi informed the court that the accused, who drove the bus, had knocked into an elderly woman, who was a pedestrian. Further investigation revealed that the accused did not have a driving licence.
In a separate case, eight persons, including a woman, were each fined by the same court for driving their vehicles while under the influence of alcohol.
Four of them were each fined RM1,800, two other accused each received a RM2,000 fine and two others were fined RM2,300 and RM2,200 respectively.
The court also ordered each of them to be jailed for two months if they failed to settle their fines.
The eight accused were arrested during separate operations at Jalan Coastal, Jalan Kolam, Jalan Lintas and Jalan Klinik Luyang between September 21, 2014 and January 17 this year.
All of them had pleaded guilty to respective charges framed under Section 45A (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987, which is punishable with a fine of up to RM6,000 or with a jail term of up to 12 months, upon conviction.