Hundreds of Singaporean motorists entering Malaysia this month have been stopped by police and forced to pay outstanding traffic fines, the Straits Times newspaper reported here Thursday.

The crackdown followed Malaysian complaints that close to 10,000 Singaporeans have been ignoring summonses, mostly for speeding, forcing Kuala Lumpur to issue arrest warrants.

Thousands of Singaporeans, limited by law in their own country to a maximum speed of 90 kilometers (56 miles) an hour, drive regularly to Malaysia for business and leisure.

Malaysia's speed limit is 110 kilometers per hour but Singaporeans, especially sports car owners, are known to use the highway between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as a race track, and their Malaysian counterparts do likewise.

Limited effect

Laser speed traps and random checkpoints are located along the highway but this has had limited effect on aspiring Michael Schumachers.

Official Malaysian police statistics show that Singaporean motorists have accumulated 95,460 outstanding summonses, totaling 28.6 million ringgitmillion dollars) worth of fines, over the past three years.

The police chief of Malaysia's Johor state, the entry point for Singapore motorists, said that this year alone, Singaporeans have yet to settle 90 percent of the 21,289 summonses issued since January.

Singaporean motorists wishing to avoid trouble have been told to check three Malaysian websites to determine if they have outstanding summonses. - AFP