AES IMPLEMENTATION CAN BE BEST WAY TO CHANGE BAD DRIVING HABITS IN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- Law enforcement, through the use of speed
cameras such as the Automated Enforcement System (AES), is the most effective
way to change bad driving habits of Malaysians.

Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Nottingham University here, Dr
Elizabeth Sheppard, said the AES was perhaps, the best way to reduce road
fatalities.

She said that enforcement through the use of cameras had always kept road
accidents and fatalities in the United Kingdom (UK) to a minimum, adding that it
kept enforcement officers from always policing the roads.

"The need to enhance enforcement in Malaysia through the use of cameras
might be the solution to increased road fatalities here," she said in a
statement here Friday.

Researchers from Australia's University of Queensland set out to check the
impact of using speed cameras by analysing 35 studies from 11 countries,
including Australia, United States, Canada and Germany.

The study found that speed cameras reduced traffic injuries and deaths in
both rural and urban setting.

Associate Professor Dr Haslee Sharil Abdullah, of the Education Faculty,
Universiti Malaya, said it was natural for drivers to be conscious and
responsible on the road, when they knew they would be subjected to punishment.

"Traffic offenders in Malaysia get away without being penalised every time
they break the laws, whereas in developed countries like the UK or Australia, we
do not see the authorities placing policemen on the road just to catch the
traffic offenders. Drivers there, know that they cannot escape the system," he
said.

-- BERNAMA