KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — A total of 1,146 summonses were issued against road users for various offences in the Integrated Ops Patuh of the Road Transport Department (RTD) together with the Kuala Lumpur Traffic Enforcement Investigation Department (JSPT) and several other agencies at the Batu Toll Plaza here and the Sungai Ramal Toll Plaza, Kajang, yesterday.

At the Batu Toll Plaza, 615 summonses were issued while 2,516 vehicles were inspected in an operation that focused on increasing the level of compliance with technical standards and vehicle safety from 8.30pm to 12.01am last night.

RTD enforcement senior director Datuk Lokman Jamaan said among the offences committed by road users were not having a driving license (203), driving without or having expired road tax (107) and offences involving registration numbers (66).

"Fancy registration numbers are a serious offence because when there is an accident, it is difficult for us to track down the owner of the vehicle apart from interfering with the investigation and there may be mistakes in channeling information,” he said in a press conference after attending Ops Patuh here.

Meanwhile, Lokman said in Ops Patuh conducted throughout the country from November 1 to 7, RTD inspected 128,489 vehicles.

"From the inspections, RTD issued 25,526 summonses for various offences and failure to comply with road safety regulations and this shows that the level of compliance of road users is questionable.

"Among the three main offences are not having a driving licence (6,636), technical offences such as modifying vehicles (5,052) and expired driving licenses (4,701),” he said.

In the operation at the Sungai Ramal Toll Plaza, RTD issued 531 summonses for various offences, including not having a driving license (126), no road tax or expired (53) and not having a goods vehicle license (29).

Selangor RTD director Azrin Borhan who participated in Ops Patuh said a tour bus driver who was carrying 40 passengers from Serdang to Kajang was found not to have a Public Transport Vehicle (PSV) License.

The 22-year-old man, when found, admitted that he only had a motorcycle license and was believed to be driving the bus in place of his brother on the night in question at a wage rate of about RM30 per trip.

"I always take my brother with me on the bus and sometimes he lets me drive (the bus) if the bus is empty on the way back,” he said when met by the media in Ops Patuh yesterday.

Azrin said the tour bus was impounded under Section 64 of the Road Transport Act 1987. — Bernama