KUALA LUMPUR: Amendments to the Road Transport Act (RTA) are most timely and will resolve many issues related to land transport infrastructure and road fatalities, said the Malaysia Institute of Transport (MITRANS) and the Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit (TRANSIT).
The two advocacy groups said the amendments to the RTA, which would be re-tabled in Parliament next week, would also see changes in the way Malaysians travel by road.
The amendments include those related to the registration of electric cars, the implementation of automated enforcement system to curb dangerous driving and the formation of the Land Transport Commission.
“It is definitely high time for the Road Transport Act to be amended to include the three important elements which will comprehensively address the road safety and public transportation problems Malaysians are tangled with today,” said Associate Professor Sabariah Mohamad of Universiti Teknologi Mara and Director of MITRANS.
She said the amendments would objectively re-educate drivers who had been abusing the traffic laws.
Sabariah said the implementation of the Automated Enforcement System (AES)would help curb traffic offenders and lead to better driving practices among motorists.
Muhammad Zulkarnain Hamzah from TRANSIT said the association viewed the amendments to the RTA as necessary to fulfill the country’s mobility needs in the future.
“We hope that the government will not address the problem of road fatalities and congestion on the surface level, but focus on transforming our present mobility infrastructure and urban environment from being car-oriented to people-oriented.
“Kuala Lumpur and other high density cities in Malaysia must quickly implement traffic-restraint and transit-priority policies, and not depend entirely on rail-based mass transit for people to shift from cars to public transport.” Muhammad Zulkarnain said aggressive and risk-taking behaviour had become the norm among drivers in Malaysia as they become increasingly affected by congestion and travel delay and competed with each other to arrive at their destinations on time, while the road capacity had not increased at all. — Bernama