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It was announced that there would be a 15% - 75% reduction on fines for issued traffic summonses. This move is to encourage the public to pay up on outstanding summonses as well as to avoid the rampant practice of bribery.

Early last year, the government introduced a scheme whereby police officers who were offered bribes could reject the offer, report the incident, and get double the offered bribe in incentives up to RM100. While this may seem like a good way to curb the public from offering bribes, it was rather ineffective. The reason is simply because it does not reduce the chance of a person opting to offer a bribe. Instead, the onus is on the police officers to make the report. How many would actually go through the hassle of making a report and possibly not getting paid the said incentive.

I’m sure there would be a maximum amount that a police officer can claim through the scheme before it comes under suspect. Let’s say that that a bribe offer is RM30 and the average copper can bag 30 bribes a month for RM900. To get the same amount, an officer would have to make 15 RM30 bribe reports. No officer in their right mind would step forward to make the reports. And even if they did, once it reaches a certain quota, they would stop turning in the culprits and accept the bribes instead to reduce the hassle of paper work and increase their take. That’s the laws of diminishing returns for you.

This time around, the government has decided to reduce the minimum and maximum compound that can be served for various traffic offences. This is probably more effective as it puts the choice in the hands of the public. From a financial standpoint, the incentive for a traffic offender to put up an offer is significantly reduced. In other words, they are aiming to reduce the probability of a bribe being offered.

Whether or not this will succeed is left to be seen. While the ’savings’ from offering a bribe is now smaller, it still doesn’t mean that they can’t make an offer. If a person is about to be compounded RM10 for a traffic offence, that still doesn’t stop them from putting up an RM20 offer to get away. It’s still RM30 for the offender and RM20 for the cop’s coffers. Sure, it’s a hassle if the cop is straight (or offended) and decides to report you and give you a bigger compound but money’s still money.

For the record, I’m against offering bribes and encourage traffic offenders (yes, you idiots who break the law), to just accept the summons and pay the fine. I’ve had my share of traffic compounds. Oh sure, I won’t deny having tried to talk my way out of a pickle, but I’m glad that I can claim never having stooped to the level of offering a bribe.

At any rate, here are the new rates and what I suspect people might try to offer to avoid the ticket:

From the rates above, it’s most profitable for the police to go after those who jump the red light. So watch out for groups of cops on bikes hanging around road junctions. Driving on the emergency lane is still a profitable source of income so it’s probably still a good idea to avoid the federal highway emergency lanes during rush hours. Aside from that, the chances that police will be on a look out for you will be significantly smaller, so go right ahead and break those pesky laws. Unless of course you’re downright unlucky in which case just drive safely like the rest of us law abiding citizens.

Well, hopefully this one works out better than the last attempt. With that, please do take the summons and don’t try to bribe.