Passengers travelling in express buses will soon be required to fill up forms and record down offences of drivers during the journey.

Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general Solah Mat Hassan said passengers would be required to fill up the registration number of their respective bus, name of the company and the destination route, for JPJ's inspection and reference.

Through the initiative, express bus drivers would not escape punishment or action from the authorities when they breach traffic rules or the law.

Solah said the department had directed bus drivers to issue forms to every passenger in their bus before starting the journey.

"The passengers must fill up the forms while the completed forms will be collected by a JPJ officer when they reach their destination," he told reporters at the Gombak JPJ enforcement office in Kuala Lumpur today.

"During an undercover operation carried by enforcement officers who were in plain clothes, 15 bus drivers were nabbed for various offences, including using hand phones while driving, overtaking without any signal or driving on the fast lane," said Solah.

"There are 13,242 buses (all types) in the country and 4,000 from the total do not undergo periodical inspection at JPJ every six months."

- Bernama