The deadline to pay traffic summonses at a discount has passed but a staggering 17 million summonses have not been paid.
These offenders will be blacklisted and cannot renew their driving licences or vehicle road tax.
Federal traffic police chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Yusof, who released the figures yesterday, said only 65 per cent of the 49.4 million summonses dating from 2000 had been paid by Monday’s deadline.
The offer of discounts to settle summonses started last December.
Last August, the cabinet warned that motorists who did not settle their outstanding summonses by Feb 28 would be blacklisted.
Aziz said at a press conference in Bukit Aman that since the announcement, 5.5 million summonses were settled. Last week alone, 1.5 million summonses were cleared.
Before last week, an average of 31,520 summonses were paid every day. Last week, the average was six times more (187,417).
On Monday, 375,248 summonses were paid. Aziz declined to reveal the amount collected.
He said the figures were disappointing as many motorists still took the matter lightly.
“We had hoped that more people would settle their summonses with the discounts, but the figure shows that a large number disregarded this.” Aziz said he was also unhappy that many had waited until the last minute to settle their summonses, as shown by the huge crowds which thronged police stations nationwide.
On Monday, several online systems crashed for several hours because of the massive online traffic. Droves of people queued up in police stations and post offices to pay their summonses until midnight.
“People like to wait until the last minute to settle their summonses although we have given them ample time,” said Aziz.
Those with outstanding summonses have been blacklisted starting yesterday.
“That excludes those who receive summonses from today.” Aziz said summonses issued from March 1 would follow the new rates, which were announced last month.
Under the new traffic compound rates, the longer the payment for a summons is delayed, the more the offender has to pay.
Those who commit four offences or more within two months will have to pay double the fine.
“I advise those who have received summonses to settle them immediately,” he said, adding that those who failed to pay up within two months of the summonses being issued would be blacklisted.
