Drop in speeding offences that lead to fatal crashes

THE percentage of speeding offences that contribute to fatal accidents has dropped from 24% to 13% under the Automated Awareness Safety System (Awas) , says Anthony Loke.

The Transport Minister said with the Awas system, the percentage of drivers complying with the speed limit had also increased from 63% to 95% after the cameras were installed in several hotspots.

He said the number of motorists who did not beat the traffic lights also went up from 96% to 98%.

“There is a 40% drop on the number of road accidents in areas where the cameras are installed.

“There is also a 38% drop in accidents at traffic light areas with Awas cameras,” said Loke in reply to Datuk Hasbullah Osman (BN-Gerik), who asked about the effectiveness of the Awas system.

Loke said according to a study, the perception of being caught had increased from 6.94 to 7.36 in locations where the cameras were installed and from 6.25 to 7.02 in similar traffic light locations.

To another supplementary question, Loke said on average, the number of summonses issued through the Awas system from Sept 1 last year until Feb 10 this year stood at a total of 107,146, which was a significant drop.

In 2017, the total number of summonses issued were 596,056 and from January to August last year, a total of 675,267 summonses were issued.

To another question by Hasbullah, who asked why no discount was offered for the Awas summonses, Loke said the government has to take a tough position on the matter.

Loke said it would be unfair to road users who followed the traffic rules or those who paid their summonses promptly.

“We have exempted about four million summonses issued under the AES (Automated Enforcement System) to help those who were burdened by the outstanding fines.

“But starting Sept 1 last year under Awas, we decided that there would be no more discounts,” he said.