By
Chua Jui Meng
THE Barisan Nasional (BN)
government’s hunting season has started even before the next general election.
I am referring to the Road Transport
Department (RTD)’s Automated Enforcement System (AES) which has been reported
to have captured 63,558
offences over eight days by 14 cameras.
This
means each camera recorded an average of 567 offences a day or one in every two
and a half minutes. At such a rate, a staggering 171,772,650 offences will be
captured in a year when all 830 cameras are used.
If
each offence carries a compound fine of RM300, it will mean Malaysian motorists
forking out RM51,531,795,000 billion a year in
compound fines!
What is this compared to Budget
2013’s sweetener – the peanut cash handouts, including BR1M’s RM1,000 to those
who qualify.
So, this is one hell of a payback scheme
for Malaysians who vote for BN in the next general election.
And it is not only the RTD’s AES
that is hunting you for money or payment!
You also have the police and RTD
speed traps to grapple with.
It’s scary to your pockets, don’t
you think so?
Below is a view published by theSun newspaper, followed by my earlier
blog posting on Oct 6, 2012, questioning BN’s sincerity in implementing the AES:
Tuesday, 09 October 2012 07:23
AES
figures are staggering
IT WAS reported that 63,558 offences were captured by 14
cameras over eight days under the Automated Enforcement System (AES).Therefore, on average, each camera recorded 567 offences a day or one in every two and a half minutes. At this rate, a staggering 171,772,650 offences will be captured in a year when all 830 cameras are used.
Can the Road Transport Department issue such a huge number of summonses and are motorists willing to pay?
Laws and rules are meant to protect the majority. If a huge number is penalised, then something must be wrong and ought to be changed.
A good example is the two-second rule. Motorists would be in a Catch-22 situation upon reaching traffic lights turning amber.
Motorists who dash across risk being caught on camera and collisions can easily occur when drivers behind expect the drivers in front to step on the accelerator and not the brake pedal.
As such, the AES would cause more crashes unless digital counters are installed at traffic lights as signboards would not be enough.
Super cars are treated the same as jalopies as the cameras cannot discriminate between vehicles. Yet in most instances, it would be no more dangerous for a German car to cruise at 160kph than a 660cc car floating at 110kph.
It would be interesting to know how the cameras are able to differentiate between private and commercial vehicles that have lower speed limits.
Would speed cameras be able to capture speeding motorcycles from behind as their number plates may not be visible from the front?
Y.S. Chan
Kuala Lumpur
-thesundaily
BN’s insincerity in AES’ intention
THE Automated Enforcement System (AES)
adopted by the Malaysian Road Transport Department (RTD) should be lauded by
the rakyat (people) if the intention
is truly to save lives.
As
it is, the intention seems to be aimed at punishing motorists and to collect
hefty fines from the rakyat to top up
the depleting national coffer.
In
the same vein, the AES can be used by the Barisan Nasional (BN) to recover the
various one-time cash handouts that are aimed at buying your support in the
next general election.
And
the AES is expected to recover many times more in the long-run the measly cash
handouts.
If
the BN government’s intention to save the rakyat
from fatal road crashes is sincere, then it should have the right
infrastructure fully in place before enforcing the AES.
Australia
has one of the lowest rates of road accidents in the world. Why is that?
That’s
because they use the Global Positioning System (GPS) and LED boards to warn
motorists of speed trap cameras installed at dangerous road and highway stretches.
The
Australian government’s intention is to help save lives by telling motorists to
slow down at such “death stretches”, not collect hefty fines for revenue.
Compare
that with the BN government. They implement the AES to catch and slap hefty
fines on motorists! The BN’s intention is clearly not about saving lives but to
collect hefty fines.
The
least the BN can do, to show their sincerity and concern for road safety, is to
put up signboards warning motorists approaching AES cameras.
Now,
the RTD only tells us where the cameras are located, but the exact position of
the cameras is difficult for drivers to detect and slow down.
Warnings
can be put up about 5km or more from AES cameras, depending on the danger level
of the road or highway stretch, to slow down motorists.
Those
who ignore the clear warning then deserve to be slapped with hefty fines. That is
sincerity in wanting to save lives.
At
least the RTD has provided the coordinates of the AES cameras for the minority
of motorists who can afford to buy GPS gadgets.
That
too, motorists have to key in the coordinates and manually detect the AES
cameras by monitoring the distance of one’s car from the next nearest AES
camera.
For
the record, Australia registered 1,715 road fatalities in 2002 compared with
1,291 in 2011, a 4.5% drop in fatal road accidents.
Instead,
Malaysia’s road fatalities rose by 12% from 2,000 to 2009. Total deaths: 6,218
in 2009.
For
those who have yet to check out the AES camera positions to date, here’s the
list and two articles on Malaysia’s alarming level of road fatalities:
ZON A
|
|||||||||
No.
|
Lokasi
|
No. laluan
|
Daerah
|
Kelajuan (kmh)
|
Koordinat
|
Satuts Kamera
|
Pihak Berkuasa Jalan
|
Pemegang Konsesi
|
Mahkamah
|
1.
|
KM 7 Jalan Maharajalela
Teluk Intan
|
F0058
|
Hilir Perak
|
90
|
3.97649,100.98882
|
Mobile
|
JKR Negeri Perak
|
-
|
Teluk Intan
|
2.
|
KM 376, L/Raya PLUS - Slim
River
|
E0001
|
Tanjung Malim
|
110
|
3.84434,101.40277
|
Fixed
|
LLM
|
PLUS
|
Slim River
|
3.
|
KM 91 Jalan Ipoh
-Butterworth
|
F0001
|
Kerian
|
60
|
4.78145,100.73517
|
Mobile
|
JKR Negeri Perak
|
-
|
Taiping
|
4.
|
KM 85.5 Jalan Ipoh - Kuala
Lumpur
|
F0001
|
Tapah
|
90
|
3.9657, 101.3270
|
Fixed
|
JKR Negeri Perak
|
-
|
Slim River
|
5.
|
KM 205.6 Taiping Utara
|
E0001
|
Taiping
|
110
|
4.90453,100.66797
|
Fixed
|
LLM
|
PLUS
|
Taiping
|
6.
|
KM 26 Jalan Ipoh - Kuala
Kangsar
|
F0001
|
Sungai Siput
|
-
|
4.81681,101.07807
|
Lampu Isyarat
|
JKR Negeri Perak
|
-
|
Sg. Sipot
|
7.
|
Jalan Pasir Putih
(Berhampiran TNB)
|
A0184
|
Ipoh
|
-
|
4.5817,101.0820
|
Lampu Isyarat
|
JKR Negeri Perak
|
-
|
Ipoh
|
PENGESAHAN LOKASI PROJEK AUTOMATED
ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM (AES)
BAGI FASA PERCUBAAN (PILOT
STAGE) ZON B
|
|||||||||
No.
|
Lokasi
|
No. laluan
|
Daerah
|
Kelajuan (kmh)
|
Koordinat
|
Satuts Kamera
|
Pihak Berkuasa Jalan
|
Pemegang Konsesi
|
Mahkamah
|
1.
|
KM D7.7 Sungai Besi
|
E0002
|
Kuala Lumpur
|
80
|
03.05085,101.70506
|
Mobile
|
JKR Wilayah Persekutuan
|
-
|
Jalan Duta
|
2.
|
Jalan Persiaran Timur
|
Z0002
|
Putrajaya
|
80
|
02.94313,101.71394
|
Mobile
|
Perbadanan Putrajaya
|
-
|
Kajang
|
3.
|
Km 301.9, Kajang
|
E0002
|
Kajang
|
90
|
02.97565, 101.74259
|
Fixed
|
LLM
|
PLUS
|
Kajang
|
4.
|
Jalan Lebuh Sentosa
|
Z0022
|
Putrajaya
|
70
|
02.94656,101.68422
|
Fixed
|
Perbadanan Putrajaya
|
-
|
Kajang
|
5.
|
Km 6.6 Jalan Kajang/
Puchong
|
E0026
|
Kuala Lumpur
|
90
|
02.973157, 101.685212
|
Fixed
|
LLM
|
SKVE
|
Kajang
|
6.
|
Jalan Klang Lama
|
Z0089
|
Kuala Lumpur
|
-
|
03.085617,101.673319
|
Lampu Isyarat
|
JKR Wilayah Persekutuan
|
-
|
Jalan Duta
|
7.
|
Jalan Ipoh
|
Z0060
|
Kuala Lumpur
|
-
|
03.177469,101.686805
|
Lampu Isyarat
|
JKR Wilayah Persekutuan
|
-
|
Jalan Duta
|
International News - October 2010
Malaysia: Road Fatalities at Alarming Level
KUALA LUMPUR: The number of road
fatalities in the country has reached an “alarming” level, said Malaysian
Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Prof Dr Ahmad Farhan
Sadullah.
“Road death statistics in our
country are at a very critical level. The public have to start playing a more
active role in curbing it,” he said.
He was commenting on a report by the
Paris-based International Transport Forum (ITF) which ranked Malaysia among 33
countries which had the highest road deaths at 23.8 deaths per 100,000
inhabitants last year.
The roads in Britain are relatively
the safest with 3.8 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
The report published on Wednesday
also ranked Malaysia third in road fatalities per billion kilometres driven
with the risk of dying in a road accident being 17.7 deaths. South Korea is the
highest with 20.1 deaths followed by the Czech Republic with 19.4.
Three countries with a worsening
road accident record were Argentina, Cambodia and Malaysia which registered an
increase in road fatalities by 12% from 2000 to 2009.
ITF is an inter-governmental organisation linked to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
ITF is an inter-governmental organisation linked to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
According to ITF’s website, Malaysia
had only recently joined its International Road Traffic and Accident Database
which was a mechanism for providing an aggregated database, in which
international accidents and victims as well as exposure data were collected on
a continuous basis.
“We cannot hide the facts. It is
everyone’s responsibility to react to it instead of just relying on government
agencies to do something about it,” said Dr Ahmad Farhan yesterday.
He added that one of the major
contributors to road deaths was motorcycle accidents.
Meanwhile, Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh has disputed the results of the report.
Meanwhile, Road Safety Department director-general Datuk Suret Singh has disputed the results of the report.
“It needs to take into account other
Asean countries as well. Compared to the World Health Organisation’s list of
countries by traffic-related deaths, Malaysia is certainly not the worst,” he
said.
He declined to comment further until
detailed studies on the report were done by the department.
Article by Ong Han Sean, the Star
Saturday, 06 October 2012 06:44
Mahfuz
moots 'Saman Rakyat 1Malaysia'
The newly implemented Automated
Enforcement System (AES) which has recorded summonses at the rate of 3,344
images for traffic offences within two days continued to be scorned, this time
with a suggestion for it to be renamed.
PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar said
the system should be renamed 'Saman Rakyat 1Malaysia', in line with the trend
by prime minister Najib Razak's administration to use his '1Malaysia' political
slogan for government projects.
Mahfuz said the name was apt as AES
was a 'kongsi-tium' designed to benefit MCA.
“AES was designed specifically based
on the ‘kongsi-tium’ practised by BN, ‘You help me, I help you'," quipped
the Pokok Sena member of parliament, who said the AES was making profit out of
people's misery.
He described the AES as fraught with
suspicion not only over the way the tender had been awarded but also in its
business model.
It was understood that under the
system, two private companies Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and ATES Road Safety Sdn Bhd
are on a three-tier model profit-sharing plan of the revenue collected through
summonses issued by Road Transport Department up to a cap of RM270 million
each.
"How can the government’s
enforcement system be privatised? In other words, how can summonses be
privatised?” asked Mahfuz.
The first phase of AES began
operation on September 23, with another 817 cameras planned for installation in
the second phase.
-Harakahdaily
