In July, it was reported that the cabinet had agreed in principle with the suggestion by the transport ministry to amend the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333) to have motorists who cause accidents while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs compensate their victims.
The MoT said that the proposed move was to ensure that offenders not only face punishment like jail terms, fines and the loss of their driving licenses, but are made responsible for the effects of their actions on the victims and their next of kin. The suggestion had been brought forward by the transport ministry, and the cabinet had agreed in a July 15 meeting.
Now, it has been announced that the amendment is set to go through. During the tabling of Budget 2027 earlier today, prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that the government would amend the law to make compensation mandatory for victims of accidents involving drunk or drug-impaired drivers.
He said that the measure was necessary because as of August this year, there had been 28 fatal cases involving drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs. “Such tragedies serve as a stark reminder that, despite tightened enforcement, rule violations remain a serious concern,” he said.
There was no indication as to when the amendment would be tabled, but back in June, during the media briefing ahead of the amendments to the Road Transport Act, transport minister Anthony Loke had indicated that the compensation proposal was set to be tabled separate from that which was passed in June.
It has also not been suggested how the compensation mechanism would work, but previously, the ministry said it hoped that the amount of compensation would not be fixed automatically or administratively by the government, but determined by the courts based on the facts and merit of each case, including the level of seriousness of the offence, injury or loss of life, losses faced by the victim or next of kin, as well as the ability of the offender to pay.
Separately, Anwar also announced that the installation of telematics systems to monitor speed, location and risky driving patterns would be mandatory. These include integration with alcohol detection devices that must be used before a driver begins a journey. Voluntary implementation is permitted until 2027, while the government develops a driver database for enforcement purposes.
What if the dadah driver was jailed 10 years,has virtually little savings but still hutang banks with housing and car and personal loans? Where in the world can the dude cough out say Rm100,000 to compensate the victim,as determined by the hakim? Most likely the family members also distance themselves from a dadah addict.
Sell his / her organs
Should be all drivers and riders
It’s to please a particular group. By right it should be applicable to all sober or not sober . Traffic laws also wanna play racism
Drink driving under Budget 2027 ?
This is silly. The better way is to
1. Jail sentence
2. Make road tax and insurance rates higher for the convicted
3. Increase licence rates to RM1,000 per year for 3 years, per class
4. Suspended the licence first for 12 months
If jail 5 years,what u suggest from item 2 to4,is meaningless.The bugger comes out,sodomised,jobless,business kaput…unless he is from rich family.
This is pie in the sky lah. All this will do is increase the number of bankruptcies and victims who will never get any compensation because insurance companies can alter their policies to remove any clauses that cover death and injury benefits when another party is proven at fault because the government has made this change. They’ll say its lowering their policy cost but most people won’t read the fine print and be stuck. Unless gomen wants to do their job and regulate insurance companies who have had far too much latitude here for so long.
Add on compulsory 3rd party insurance to road tax. Multiple benefits – vehicle ownership costs go up, road users covered by policy so even moto now have to have insurance as part of their road tax. Upon accident the policy issuer (gomen) pays the victim out of the collective tabung. Increased compulsory costs will have some behaviour modification on all this reckless behaviour. And gomen being the insurer can then deny road tax for at fault parties in the future because their risk profiles have increased. Next step is JPJ/PDRM enforcing the law on those driving/riding without valid road tax (everyone lah not just supercar/Alphard/Vellfire gang). Couple that with a more intensive license qualification course and increased cost (like 1st world countries) and the effects will be seen in a few years. But it all hinges on enforcement and we know how that goes in this country…
Why stop there? Make all guilty offenders of any accidents to compensate the victims…oh wait, we already have vehicle Insurance to do just that
How about riders without license roadtax n insurance if they bang other people’s car?
so if we take medications (drugs) and involved in accident, does it counts?