Wan Agyl Wan Hassan, a former official with the now defunct Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), suggested that toll, petrol, and vehicle insurance discounts be given to road users who have not committed any traffic offence for a period of six to 12 months.

According to the managing partner of the transportation consulting firm Agyl & Partners, offering discounts on summonses for any occasion and under any circumstances should be stopped.

While admitting that this proposal may not be popular with many, he said it was necessary to educate users about road safety and traffic rules.

“This is because they feel that if they get a summons, they don’t need to worry as they can pay it at the end of the year with a discount,” he told FMT.

On Dec 9, transport minister Loke Siew Fook said there will be no more discounts on traffic summonses issued by the road transport department (JPJ).

Loke said other agencies, like the police, may have different considerations, “but JPJ is under the transport ministry and is responsible for road safety issues”.

The police previously offered discounts of up to 50% for selected traffic summonses in conjunction with the unity government’s first anniversary.

Meanwhile, Law Teik Hua of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s road safety research centre welcomed the transport ministry’s initiative to distribute free helmets instead of traffic summons discounts.

However, he said it might incur high costs and could be replaced with cheaper yet effective reflective stickers to reduce the risk of accidents.

“The cost (of reflective stickers) is cheaper compared with providing helmets and it also allows motorcycles to be visible to other road users (at night),” he said.