LETTER | Law breaking motorists must be severely punished

LETTER | Dangerous, inconsiderate, law-breaking motorists this Raya season must be severely punished

As the festive mood filled our nation this Raya, the unprecedented volume of vehicles on all roadways including long crawls and traffic jams was phenomenal.

We must appreciate the highway authorities and our police force who had to again sacrifice celebrating Raya, placing duty to the nation and people's safety above personal and family hopes.

It is totally unacceptable to still witness motorists breaking the laws, showing absolute disregard for road safety and behaving in bullying manners during this exodus.

The many videos shared on social media and the news reports of dangerous motorists - on highways, federal roads and even within city centres - go to show that these lawbreakers are brazen and therefore do not deserve any mercy.

I hope the law will come down hardest on these errant motorists who have been extremely selfish, totally inconsiderate and certainly fear not the good laws of our nation.

In addition to the courts giving them the maximum punishment permissible under the laws, prosecutors must make life difficult for these dangerous, irresponsible motorists by charging them under the most severe law/s.

Perhaps their employers ought to be informed by the police.

And media should not shy away from exposing these recalcitrant motorists who hurt innocent, law-abiding motorists and make life difficult for the police too.

I also appeal to the authorities to make a one-off provision to put all those charged in court to do compulsory community work as well.

Motorists who willfully break the laws knowing full well that this is a nationwide festive season that is seeing an unprecedented exodus owing to the deprivation we all had to face given the two years of a health pandemic deserve no mercy, no compassion, even if they are having connections with people in high places or the underworld for the matter.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.