Malaysian Police Give Discounts on Traffic Tickets

Malaysian authorities have lowered fines for traffic offenses by up to 70% in hopes that motorists will actually pay them instead of bribing traffic police to avoid tickets, a police spokesman said today.

Tickets for minor offenses, such as turning without signaling, will now have reduced fines, said Mustafa Abdullah, the police chief in Kuala Lumpur, the capital. He said traffic fines were also being slashed because the cost of living had increased.

A traffic police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the initiative would be evaluated to see if it should become permanent. “We will take a month or two to conduct our surveys and gauge the public’s response,” the officer said.

An average of 11,000 traffic tickets are issued daily.