PAGOH, Jan 3 — Road Transport Department (RTD) director-general Datuk Seri Shaharuddin Khalid said the department had recorded an increase of more than 7,000 traffic offences since setting-up of the department’s two stations along the North-South Expressway about two years ago.

"In 2018, our highway enforcement patrol teams recorded 1,661 of various offences from the first RTD Station at the Dengkil Rest and Service (RnR).

"However, throughout last year we saw an increase to 8,663 traffic offences with the operation of our second station in Perak,” said Shaharuddin.

The department is more commonly known by its Malay initials JPJ.

He said this after officiating the department’s RTD Station at the Pagoh RnR (southbound) here along the North-South Expressway.

Also present was PLUS Malaysia Bhd managing director Datuk Azman Ismail.

Shaharuddin said the most common traffic offences recorded by RTD were expired road tax and insurance at 3,151 cases and expired driving licences at 2,679 cases.

He said this was followed closely by other traffic offences such as overloading (937), ferrying dangerous goods (509), driving at emergency lanes (498) and driving while using mobile phones (152).

"RTD will work closely with PLUS Malaysia Bhd to make our country’s highways a better and safer environment for all road users,” said Shaharuddin.

On the third RTD Station at Pagoh RnR (southbound), Shaharuddin said it would help assist the department in carrying out its enforcement duties along the southern region.

"This latest RTD Station will assist in facilitating smoother and easier enforcement, monitoring and road safety initiatives, as well as emergency assistance by our officers,” he said.

The Pagoh RTD Station is the third in the country, catering mainly to the southern zone.

The first station at the Dengkil RnR (southbound) was operational in February 2018 and catered to the central zone, while the second one at the Gunung Semanggol RnR (southbound) was launched in January last year for the northern zone.