Wear your seatbelts!!!

The Road Transport Department (JPJ) and police will start issuing summons from Jan 1 to all passengers not wearing their seatbelts.

JPJ director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said vehicle owners and passengers would be given a six-month grace period where they would only be issued a fine of RM300 for not wearing their belts.

From July 1, drivers and passengers caught not using their seatbelts would be issued a summons where they have to pay a fine of up to RM2,000, serve up to one year’s jail or both under the Road Transport Act 1987, Solah said.

Solah added that vehicles without rear seatbelts registered after Jan 1 1995 had three years to get their vehicle retrofitted with the safety feature.

He said it was not mandatory for cars registered before Jan 1 1995 to retrofit rear seatbelts as they do not have the rear anchorage points that allowed the feature to be installed.