The cabinet has agreed in principle with the suggestion to amend the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333) to create a compensation mechanism for victims of road accidents as well as the reinforcement of the Kejara demerit system. The suggestion was brought forward by the transport ministry (MoT) and the cabinet agreed in a July 15 meeting.
MoT says that the suggestion is to ensure that offenders do not only face punishment like jail terms, fines and the lost of their driving licenses, but are also responsible for the effects of their actions on the victims and their next of kin.
The ministry hopes that the amount of compensation is not fixed automatically or administratively by the government, but determined by the courts based on the facts and merit of each case, including the level of seriousness of the offence, injury or loss of life, losses faced by the victim or next of kin, as well as the ability of the offender to pay.
The suggested compensation mechanism also will not affect the right of the victim or next of kin to make insurance claims or take civil action based on the current legal channels, MoT’s statement said.
At the same time, the Kejara demerit system will be reinforced as a prevention mechanism to identify and control high-risk drivers and repeat offenders. The suggested improvement involves a clearer demerit notification procedure, representation mechanism and administrative review, and adjustment or removal of demerit points if an offence cannot be proven or no conviction is made.
MoT says that the victim compensation mechanism and the reinforcement of Kejara system are vital steps in strengthening justice, accountability and road safety. It is committed to ensure that the legal framework that will be set up can not just give appropriate defence to victims and next of kin, but to also ensure that offenders are responsible for their actions and prevent repeats.
With the cabinet’s agreement in principle, MoT says that it will now start the process of amendments to Act 333. Details of the suggested mechanism will be studied comprehensively to ensure that the amendments are clear, fair and effective, before being presented back to the cabinet for consideration, and then tabled in parliament.
“I think there’s a lot polemic or talk in the community about justice for victims, and we see that there is precedence in our law that there is indeed a space or a legal provision in other acts that provides compensation to victims, so we want to include this in Act 333 as well. We didn’t have time for it this round, but we will bring it about at the end of the year parliamentary session,” transport minister Anthony Loke said last month.
Aside from these two suggestions, here are the wide-ranging amendments to Act 333 that MoT recently proposed, containing reforms and changes in 11 scopes, covering 42 provisions, from digitalisation of services and enforcement to an increase in the minimum fine rate. More here.
does it mean that if a reckless biker gets run over by a car , the car driver is personally liable to pay compensation?
Dont u know,there r ‘agents” who will go to the hospital,get the biker to furnish details,to harrass the poor car driver who is not at fault.I saw this with my own eyes,while recovering at the govt hospital.
In the event,say a reckless driver is sent to the cell near Ajibkor’s cell in Kajang,how do u expect the bugger to pay up,while he has virtually little savings,and his family members abandon him?
It is easy to enact laws,but the end result may not be so favourable to the victims.
Lol, look at all these drivers projecting themselves. 87% of fatalities involving motorcyclist were not their own fault. Most of that were caused by dumb drivers.
Statistics doesn’t lie. There was an article posted here last year.
Where is the statics link ?
Article may or June. Look it up yourself. Don’t ask for tongkat laa.
in the first place who is the arbitrator to decide what is and isnt the bikers fault ? the statistics is already faulty.
Surely not those arrogant barking drivers.
every day we can see hordes of bikers breeaking traffic rules on the road. if anyone is arrogant barking, it is surely them
you must be one of those reckless arrogant barking bikers. lawless bestards.
Look in a mirror bruhh, you’re projecting hard. Bcos you’re seeing riders breaking the rules, you think you’re the saint. You come to tell all of that story here. I’m just reflecting all those comments here, nothing more. Accusing me specifically would never change the fact & statistics. Try again
i didnt claim to be a saint. you and i both agree that we both do see bikers breaking rules right ? in fact every single comment in this article backs that up so its not merely my personal anecdote. so you canoot ignore this overwhelming evidence that most bikers are reckless lawbreaking criminal scum .
You call opinions an evidence? I call that projecting, because they’re all driver-only perspective. Just like you, they’re no saint. But they’re barking like riders are 100% the problems when statistic(now that’s what I call evidence) proves drivers are the bigger problem. I’m partly agreeing only because there’s still 13% motorcycle fatalities caused by their own self, but the remaining 87% got ignored entirely by drivers commenting here, especially you. Why? Too arrogant to admit? If you think the statistics were wrong, prove it. Barking like you’re sinless wouldn’t change facts.
which brings me back to my point that the origin of the statistics are faulty because the sarjen in balai will almost always rule in favor of the rider and decide against the driver. and if you werent too arrogant to admit that statistics are often lies used to push this or that agenda
That’s merely your assumption, no proof. Silly me hoping you’d bring a different study to counter my presented statistics. I should have known better, your intellectual level is taking opinions as “overwhelming evidence”. Now you want to use your own assumption as fact? I’m truly embarrassed to even had an argument with you. Good luck with your life. I’m out.
good riddance. are you working as an academic or statistician , taking mere statistics as the truth, when reality shows otherwise .
This is not going to reduce the number of accidents on the road. Look at how these motorcycles go on the road.. there are no rules, they are on the fast lane, they are on the emergency lane, they ride between lanes and they are on the highways even though there are motorcycles lane built for them.
They speed past you on the left, on the right during traffic jams, they don’t give way when you put on your turn indicator.. just honk like as if they are on a monster truck! What if I am on a bad day and I got distracted and couldn’t hear? And they being small, likely may be in the driver’s blindspot.
When it rains, they still speed like nobody’s business, whereas we the driver’s struggle with poor visibility. Then a bunch of them stops under the shade and takes up half the road. A driver turning in may not see them in time.
It’s like the law of the jungle out there. The bikes are zooming all over randomly.. And it’s causing lives. Look at the data for goodness sake! Big large majority of those killed in road accidents are motorcyclists.
I sympathise with the lower income group that they have to rely on the motorcycle for their daily living. We have to accept that. But these motorcyclists need to have discipline on the road and respect that there are other road users too.
What is the government doing to educate them. What is the government doing to teach them road manners and discipline? I don’t remember any campaign on this for ages!
Perhaps Paul Tan can start a campaign on road safety for the motorcyclists?
Most of these rempits don’t even have valid licenses (no need to ask about insurance) how to convict?
What you have said is spot on.. concentrate on these motorcyclists, they are so reckless and behave as if they own the road without realising a little nudge from a car is enough to kill them. Please looks at the statistics or yb why don’t you drive on nkve or federal to see the actual problem
Motocyclists are arrogant for the most part they don’t want to be told anything. Them dying fast is a good thing but just die on the side without getting innocents involved that will be great.
Mat Rempits doing haram superman stunts should be shot dead for the better of mankind. Like to agree, dislike if u think Mat Rempits are halal.
Why no action taken to those riding with no license, roadtax/insurance? No guts?
So if I read this right those poor jobless folk driving around in BMW’s causing mayhem won’t have to pay a penny!
a motor rider’s entire survival is at the mercy of cars (and almost every other vehicles on the road) yet riders ride like they own the roads and without a care for traffic rules. So why are we further “approving” these barbarians?
i don’t think we have a problem with this, but the problem is fairness. Apply the same to those rempits or not?
so it is now good investment to make lots and lots of babies and children, and then let them be mat rempits. so if they get killed, we as parents can monetize on it. what a great business plan.
Firstly enforce strict laws on motorcyclists. They have no law in Malaysia. Every school area students riding at high speed without helmets. Has anytime police or JPJ enforcement been done near schools??? Transport minister! Stop issuing free motorcycle licenses. No country on earth provides free licenses to the teens without proper test and evaluation. Motorcyclists never use brakes, they only honk while riding at high speed even in a traffic jam. Can the govt do a proper job on this??
YB, before we implement more new traffic laws, how about strictly implementing existing laws, such as driver license, road tax, vehicle insurance, drivers wth multiple traffic tickets, stop lane splitting, illegal parking, stalls blocking the road, darkly tinted car windows, etc etc.
Why the roads more narrow, peaky high risk of the car roads country, they’re low car accidents case than Malaysia? The top 3 car accident casualty case ranking is Malaysia. According to car accident casualty case ranking of the world.
ahloke-kor just say whatever, soon he will be let go by DAP, then PMX, then next election Blue wave back to Bossku culture rempit #1, love rasuah, love cronies. cos certain type starving of velfire, family holiday 10 kali setahun, rolex 2 dozen, anak2 makan rasuah sampai bila2.
The law should also be updates where in the event that it is three motorcyclist that is at fault and/or cause of the accident, they should be fully liable even for their own medical expenses. Do all or most Malaysians know that currently as it stands, if a motorcyclist hits you due to their own fault, the maximum penalty is only a meager fine. If they need hospitalisation or time off work, they can claim against the vehicle’s insurance impacting on the NCD that car owners try so hard to build up and maintain? This is truly injustice and it must be made right before we even talk about more major issues!
A lot of chest pounding and back patting but end of the day, it will all come to naught if there is no enforcement of traffic laws, be it existing, enhanced or newly introduced ones.
The minister is completely missing the root cause of the problem and is setting himself up to lose the next election.
My car is equipped with Side Collision Warning, and it activates very frequently. There have even been instances where it intervenes by tugging the steering wheel.
Some people might say, “Your car is just overly sensitive,” but explain why the system hardly ever activates on highways where there are few or no motorcyclists. So what’s the real issue?
The problem isn’t that the safety system is faulty. It’s that far too many motorcyclists weave through traffic like snakes, squeezing into every gap between two vehicles. That riding behaviour constantly triggers modern safety systems designed to prevent collisions.
If the government genuinely wants to improve road safety, it needs to tackle the root cause instead of focusing on the symptoms.
I think an extreme improvement in the following before you can go to the new legislation
1. Road condition and construction
2. Traffic enforcement on errant road users
3. Parking facilities
4. Enforcement of parking infringement