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| AES is more than just a speed trap, criminals will be very shy of the crystal clear digital pictures too |
Any sane human being would welcome the enforcement
authority’s initiatives to reduce road accidents in Malaysia. Our road
accidents and death on our roads have been noted to be one of the highest in
the world.
Reducing road accidents is about saving lives,
particularly the lives of our younger generation who are taking on the roads
with some form of vengeance.
Suggestions on ways and means to reduce death on our roads
have been aplenty but almost every single such suggestion points that speeding
was one of the main cause, if not THE cause in the majority of road accidents.
Enforcement of traffic rules and regulations has also been a
thorny affair. While the number of vehicles plus roads and expressways have
increased multi fold, the police and Road Transport Department’s enforcement
capabilities have been stretched thin.
With the current number of traffic enforcement personnel in
the country, it is humanly impossible to monitor our roads to ensure safety.
Thus, the Road Transport Department’s latest move to
introduce Automated Enforcement System (AES). AES’s cameras consist of 566
speed-trap cameras and 265 traffic light cameras and is expected to be
operational in the next few weeks.
AES comes directly under the purview of JPJ or RTD and is
actually a double-edged sword intended to monitor/enforce traffic regulations
while also helping the police to detect crime. (If you are speeding after
committing a crime, the state of the art AES will not only book you for your recklessness on the road but will also help police identify you via clear
digital pictures).
Some burden will also be lifted from the police and they
could now assign more men to fight crime rather than manning traffic junctions or
setting up speed traps along deadly roads.
The purpose of AES is purely to reduce road accidents with
an improved 24-hours monitoring system. Its not about playing hide and seek
with road users anymore.
The RTD had announced that the location of the AES fixed
cameras will not be a secret. Warning signages will be installed to warn
motorists before they enter areas equipped with AES cameras. The intention is
not to issue summonses, but for motorists to reduce speed.
Some details of the AES’s efficiency were recently
highlighted by Malaysia’s leading motoring blogger Paul Tan HERE.
But as expected by many, our Opposition politicians who
often blame the Government and authorities for not doing enough to protect and
safe guard the lives of road users have started singing a different tune.
Terasa Kok’s latest tune about this traffic monitoring
system just reminds me of a song her ‘dear leader’ Lim Kit Siang used to sing,
on a daily basis, when the Government announced plans to build the Penang Bridge in 1981.
If we remember the Opposition belted the same tune again
when plans to construct the North-South
Highway was mooted.
If we had listened to their song and taken the lyrics seriously, Malaysians would most certainly rowing sampans on the Klang river by now.
If we had listened to their song and taken the lyrics seriously, Malaysians would most certainly rowing sampans on the Klang river by now.
Well, we cannot allow those who talk cock to ensure the
safety of our road users, for they will continue to talk as long as it could
garner some cheap political points.
4 comments:
You mean double-edged sword with both edges going in the right direction! (:
It's time rules are no longer be made a joke in this country, and following them makes you some kinda idiot or something. Take em pictures and fine em.
Naj
It wont't last long, lah. 1st class cameras but 3rd world mentality in maintenance.
Don't drive for 6 months, take a bicycle. Good for body and mind.
So the people who got the AES project are you 'Puk'mamakthirs. Guess Najib just do not have any balls to stand up against you rap'st after all.
The emergence of AES in our traffic monitoring is most welcome. True, the authority has put clear dignages to warn the road users. They are big enough signs - easily discernible. But, what spoils the good move is that along with the warning that tells the motorists they entering an AES zone there is no indication about the speed that should not be exceeded. Even if every road users shoul already know the speed limt or speed limit posts have been placed elsewhere along the road, it's pertinent that one such signage should also be found on the AES signage. Then, I agree that the installation of the AES system is to facilitate safe driving. Otherwise, without the adequate signage it's still a trap!
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