BALIK PULAU: Cautioning motorists to not participate in illegal racing, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said to take it as a warning from the ministry.
"These illegal activities will not only harm you and your family if anything untoward occurs but will affect your family and other road users. There have been incidents of illegal racing in Penang in the past few months.
"It needs to be looked into as one must realise it does not just affect you but poses a danger to other road users and will cause them harm," he said.
He said this when addressing new motorcycle licence recipients during the ceremony to give out licences under the MyLesen B2 national programme for motorcyclists at a driving school in Balik Pulau here on Saturday (July 8).
Loke said especially when it came to youths, some ride motorcycles despite not having a licence.
"It is a government initiative to help the B40 community as sometimes due to monetary issues they might not be able to get a licence. When they ride motorcycles as teenagers without one, it means they do not have appropriate training.
"This can lead to accidents, especially teenagers.
"This is something that has been worrying us as this trend of motorcycle accidents amongst teenagers is increasing.
"Then there are the illegal racing activities which are constantly going on, including in Penang.
"We hope that through this programme we can give them professional training to make sure we have competent riders.
"This is our way of helping reduce accidents and helping the socio-economy of our people," he said.
The MyLesen B2 programme was launched to help the B40 group obtain a Class B2 licence and it is one of the initiatives under the 2023 Budget implemented by the Transport Ministry through the Road Transport Department (JPJ).
A total of RM2.7mil was allocated in the MyLesen B2 programme and a total of 9,000 candidates from the B40 group are expected to benefit from the initiative.
Loke said he hoped to increase the number of recipients next year.
"We hope for more funding next year and are targeting double the amount of recipients.
"We give them RM300 which goes towards the course.
"They just need to take part in the course," he said.
Loke said it is a nationwide programme carried out in every state.
"There were more than 9,000 applications so we hope to increase it next year as this is beneficial to them. Here today there are 296 students who have obtained their motorcycle licence under this programme," he said.
