KUALA LUMPUR: The ban on motorcycles on the Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya
highway does not make sense to members of the Superbikers Association of
Malaysia (SAM).
  SAM executive chairman Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this was
particularly so as the highway had been built with facilities for
motorcyclists.
  "When it was first opened, I rode on the highway on my Honda Goldwing.
I don't see why Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu says the route is
dangerous. The concessionaires had even built motorcycle lanes at tolls
and bridges," said the deputy information minister.
  SAM president SAC II Datuk Jamaluddin Khalid said Samy Vellu's claim
that the ban would protect motorcyclists was invalid.
  "We are disappointed with this because motorcyclists are safer on
highways."
  According to Jamaluddin, statistics showed that 95 per cent of
fatalities involving motorcyclists happened on trunk and federal roads
and not on highways.
  On Thursday, Samy Vellu announced the ban, claiming that the 26km
highway, opened to traffic last December, had a road shoulder of up to
1.5m, making it unsafe for motorcyclists.
  Superbikers' Club Malaysia president Lt-Gen (R) Tan Sri Mohamad Ngah
said Samy Vellu should have thought about that when the highway was
designed.
  "Don't give excuses about not having enough space; a road is a road.
Why deprive the poor from using the road?"
  Moderator for motorcycle on-line forum Msportbike. com, Armand Ali,
said the ban was done without a study of the matter.