| Free Installation Of Rear Seat Belts For Locally-made Cars Soon, Says Tee Keat |
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KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 (Bernama) -- The Government and local car manufacturers have struck a deal to provide and install rear seat belts for free to locally-made cars soon.
Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat said an agreement had been worked out and that a memorandum of understanding between the government and manufacturers is expected to be inked in the next few days.
"We have deliberated this systematically as it involved money and the engineering part of it.
"We hope this initiative can help lessen the people's burden with the new ruling to wear rear seat belts from today," he told reporters after opening a Chinese arts exhibition today.
Ong said the government was also working with the corporate sector to set up a fund to subsidise the cost of installing rear seat belts.
From today, rear seat passengers in cars are required to wear seat belts. After a three-month advocacy period, offenders will be fined for breaching the new law.
"I would like to advise passengers of cars already fitted with seat belts to buckle up when travelling and for car owners who have not installed the belts to do so promptly and not wait till the last minute," he said.
The government had given three years grace period for owners of cars without rear seat belts to get it installed. Currently, almost 90 per cent of vehicles are fitted with rear seat belts.
On another matter, Ong, who is also a MCA vice-president and Selangor MCA chief, said he would meet Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan to get details on last week's incident of a group of thugs attacking Bandar Mahkota residents who were trying to remove concrete barricades built by Grand Saga Sdn Bhd, concessionaire of the Cheras-Kajang Highway.
The controversy ended on Friday following the Cabinet's decision to keep the disputed toll-free access road to Cheras-Kajang Highway open until the issue was settled in court.
-- BERNAMA
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