I am quite sure I am not alone in feeling disappointed over Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's comments on appeal by the public to extend the dateline for settling traffic summonses.

He totally ruled out the possibility of giving traffic offenders some injury time or any grace period extension to settle their summonses at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu.

I sympathise very much with those offenders who failed to meet the May 16 deadline, not because of their reluctance to heed the call by the authority, but more by their inability to raise the sufficient amount of money for the said purpose.

The majority of offenders were likely from the middle and below income group. I recently read in a newspaper how a lorry driver discovered he had eight summonses after checking with the authorities. Even if each summon was just RM100, he has to fork out RM800.

For offenders with financial problems, the two weeks' extension given, though appreciated, may have been too short for them to get enough money to meet their hefty summonses.

Another important factor not to be overlooked, is the fact that most of them were not even aware that they have traffic summon(ses) until the 'threat' by police forced them to initiate a check.

It will be very unfortunate for these offenders should the authority proceed with their plan to mobilise a thorough crackdown on Monday, May 20.

I just wonder what the impact will be on Barisan Nasional, should these offenders collectively decline the 'appeal' by Abdullah and associates in the next general election.