KUALA LUMPUR: More than 2,500 motorists are set to be hauled to court for misusing the emergency lane between May 22 to Sept 26 this year.
Road Transport Department (RTD) director Datuk V. Valluvan Veloo said the cases, involving 2,522 in total, are scheduled to be brought to court from October 2016 until January 2017.
"As of today, 50 cases related to the misuse of the emergency lane have been brought to court. The culprits have been fined between RM1,000 to RM2,000 for each offence," he told a press conference here today.
Valluvan said the high rate of cases being charged were due to information by the public.
"I appreciate the public taking the time to note down the date, time, location, and send us a photo or video of incidents and submitting it to the department for enforcement action," he said.
He said the public can submit information on traffic offences to aduantrafik@jpj.gov.my
"This is part of the Blue Ocean Strategy and it has proven to be very successful and effective in curbing traffic offences," he said.
Apart from members of the public, RTD is also urging government servants to help the department by reporting incidents of traffic offences.
Valluvan said that during the one week operation period during the Hari Raya Haji and Hari Malaysia celebrations, 138 cases were reported by the public.
In a fatal accident in Ayer Keroh, Malacca, two brothers died after the emergency response unit arrived late to the scene, no thanks to motorists hogging the emergency lane.
"In that incident, 79 drivers were identified, and court notices were sent. Seven of them ignored the notices and arrest warrants were issued against them.
"A total of 51 drivers have been charged or are awaiting court dates; the rest are still under investigation and pending court charges," he said.
Valluvan said current statistics showed that Selangor has the highest number of traffic offence complaint at 755, followed by Johor with 449 cases and Perak with 367 cases.
He also explained that the numbers do not involved foreign cars such those from Singapore or Thailand.
Foreign car drivers will be issued summonses if they break Malaysian traffic laws. If they ignore the compounds, the vehicles will be blacklisted from entering Malaysia.