TRAFFIC congestion in Subang Jaya is a bane to the people there. With this in mind, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) hopes to empower its traffic wardens to complement the police in exercising their duties.
MPSJ councillor Rajiv Rishyakaran, said the council felt that deploying traffic wardens would be helpful in assisting the police to direct traffic flow during peak hours.
“While the traffic police has the ultimate control in enforcing the rules where traffic is concerned, the council can apply to the Federal Government to enpower their wardens with similar powers.
“This can be done under the existing Act — Section 3(a)(1) of the Road Transport Act 1978 (Act 333) on the Authorisation to Mayor and Officers of City Council.”
The Act states: “(3) Upon authorisation being made under subsection (1), the Mayor and officers or persons in the service of the City Council may exercise the powers conferred and perform the duties imposed by this Act on the Dato Bandar or traffic warden, as the case may be, ...”.
“It simply means that if the application goes through, the MPSJ can use its powers to regulate traffic,” said Rajiv.
“When this happens, the MPSJ’s existing enforcement officers can be trained to perform the duties of a traffic warden.”
He said the MPSJ’s main motivation for having traffic wardens was to assist traffic police officers with directing peak hour traffic in the morning and evening, as and when they are needed.
Among the roads in Subang Jaya that are particularly heavy during peak hour traffic are Persiaran Tujuan, Persiaran Kewajipan and the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) stretch in front of Bandar Sunway.