How Budi95 could spark a new era of safer roads
It's head start for the government to draft a new law to ensure anyone who wants to own a motorised vehicle must have a valid driving or riding license.
SHAHRIM TAMRIN
WITH the Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) price at RM1.99 per litre set to begin on Sept 30, the programme may trigger a fresh wave of law-abiding culture among road users and a new dilemma regarding vehicle ownership.
Many are unaware of the implications of the Budi95 programme for those without a valid driving or riding license.
Three groups that will definitely experience headaches and anxiety next week:
- Owners of private vehicles without a riding or driving license.
- Drivers or riders of motor vehicles who have not renewed their expired driving licenses for more than three years.
- Errant motor vehicle drivers or riders who never sat for any driving test and never had a driving or riding license.
BACKGROUND
It has been a decades-long practice in the absence of regulations on vehicle ownership that individuals without a driving or riding license are allowed to purchase a private car or motorcycle from a car/motorcycle dealer.
Suppose a person without a driving license wants to buy an 'underbone' motorcycle under 250cc or popularly known as a 'kapcai' motorcycle, in cash or apply for a loan from a ‘riba’ institution (bank) and credit company; there's no requirement for the buyer to produce a riding or driving license.
The practice of allowing anyone without a driving license to own a private sedan, hatchback, electric vehicles, MPV, SUV, pickup truck and 4-wheel drive has been the norm for the longest time in Malaysia.
NATIONWIDE REALITY
This often occurred in small towns, rural areas and plantations where parents or senior citizens purchase motorcycles for their children and underage teenagers, while the parents without a driver's license give the green light to their children as young as 12 years old to ride their newly purchased vehicles every day.
It is plain to see that at least two generations of road users, senior citizens and children, are without driving licenses and many kids, including the under aged teenagers commuting to schools and riding around the township on motorcycles.
As a result, based on the annual road crash statistics by Fedetal Police Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Department, thousands of children and underage teenagers have perished due to motorcycle riding over the years.
In fact, the practice of not renewing road tax and insurance has become a common thing in various tenets of society due to the lax level of enforcement.
This can be confirmed through data from the Road Transport Department (JPJ) over the past seven years, which indicated a significant discrepancy between the number of private vehicle purchases and road tax renewals over a period of time.
It is also not a big secret that many owners of luxury vehicles, including high-powered motorcycles, have never had a valid driving license.
This situation escalated when the public took for granted the obligation to renew road tax and insurance in the wake of the JPJ and the Transport Ministry digitalisation era, without the need for physical new road tax stickers and displaying them on the front windscreen.
The recent statement by JPJ that there are 2.3 million inactive driving license holders throughout the country confirms the notion of the public's stubbornness in renewing expired driving licenses and storing a digital copy of driving license on smartphones via the MyJPJ application.
ANALYSIS
With Budi95 set to embark at the end of this month, this will directly and indirectly force errant road users without active licenses for more than three years to re-sit the driving license test.
If the new era of petrol subsidy rationalisation runs smoothly in line with the robust JPJ database in the next 24 months, we can expect ripple effects against stubborn groups including the T15 category, who will be forced to ensure that their driving licenses and road taxes are valid.
Moreover, if the government is smart enough to capitalise on the Budi95 rollout in tandem with JPJ and Police data of the new KEJARA rollout soon, Budi95 can trigger the public rush to clear half a billion ringgit worth of outstanding traffic summonses before the ‘rakyat’ can activate their driving licenses to ensure they qualify and enjoy the lower price of RON95 petrol.
Finally, Budi95 is seen as a head start for the government to draft a new law to ensure anyone who wants to own a motorised vehicle must have a valid driving or riding license.
Shahrim Tamrin is a former board member of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) and a road safety and sustainable transport advocate. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of Sinar Daily.
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