TAWAU: A man riding a motorcycle with his eight-month pregnant wife and their daughter were among arrested for riding without a licence during an Integrated Operation by the Road Transport Department (RTD) at Kuhara Road, on Friday.
The young couple, who were stopped on their way home to Batu 3 after finishing work at a restaurant in Hilltop, admitted to only having “lepa-lepa” identification documents and riding a motorcycle with an expired road tax.
Sabah State Road Transport Department (JPJ) Director Mohd Harris Ali said during the operation, which started at 6.45 pm, his team inspected 321 vehicles and issued 15 JPJ summonses to drivers and motorcyclists found breaking the rules.
“A total of 19 summonses were issued, including three inspection notices and one PG1 notice, with no vehicles impounded so far,” he said, noting that the operation involved 67 officers from five departments/agencies.
The agencies involved included JPJ with 40 personnel, Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) with nine officers issuing three summonses, National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK) with eight officers, Immigration Department of Malaysia with eight officers apprehending four individuals, and National Registration Department (JPN) with two officers.
Harris said the operation aimed to identify major offences such as driving without a licence, unauthorised modifications, expired motorcycle licences and uninsured vehicles.
He said from January to June this year, RTD conducted three major operations: Chinese New Year Ops, Hari Raya Aidilfitri Ops, and Hari Raya Aidiladha Ops, with 444,243 summonses issued for various offences.
“Out of these, 14,671 offences were for driving without a licence, the highest being 7,807 in 2023 and 14,671 in 2024,” he added.
For JPJ Tawau Branch, 2,279 offences were recorded in these three operations for various offences, with the highest being 577 cases or 25.32 per cent for not having competent driving licences, he said.
He added that 911 licence offences were recorded from January to June 2023 compared to 981 for the same period this year.
He said despite an increase in no licence offences in 2024, continuous enforcement raised awareness among drivers in the district.
He affirmed that they would continue enforcement to ensure all road users comply with existing regulations, achieving their goal of improving law compliance and reducing road accident cases.
He urged everyone to use the MyJPJ app as the primary platform for transactions with JPJ, including complaints, renewing driving licences, and motorcycle licences online without going to t JPJ offices.
“Overall, there are 9,823,573 MyJPJ registrations nationwide, covering 70 per cent of the 14 million driving licence holders, with Sabah registering 7,609 advance IDs,” he said.
He hoped to achieve 80 per cent MyJPJ registrations in Sabah by year-end, understanding the rural population may take longer compared to younger groups.
