In an attempt to curb the high number of road fatalities during festive seasons, the police will will deploy 5,554 personnel, the biggest so far, under Ops Sikap XI which kicks off nationwide on Tuesday.

Federal traffic chief Nooryah Mohamed Anvar said today the operation would continue until Oct 31 as an exodus from the city was expected due to the Deepavali and Aidilfitri double celebrations on Oct 21 and Oct 24 respectively.

"This is the highest number of police officers taking part in the history of Ops Sikap, which enters its 11th edition since 2001. Early this year, under Ops Sikap X, 4,929 personnel were involved.

"This year's figure comprises 327 high-ranking officers, 4,612 lower ranks and 615 support personnel. The main focus will be on federal roads where the accident rate is high," she was quoted saying by Bernama .

"We need the extra manpower as we aim to reduce the number of fatalities which saw 212 deaths last year, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2004 with 205 deaths," she added

The high number of road accidents recorded last year (13,153) and the high fatality rate have become recurring problem for the government and various measures have been put in place to counter this.

Road accidents in Malaysia, said to be one of the highest in the region, had also led Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to express his concern and sadness.

Accident-prone areas

Meanwhile, Nooryah said police had identified 42 accident-prone areas on federal roads nationwide, six dangerous stretches on state roads and four on municipal roads.

"We will station 222 police personnel on federal roads, 87 on (highways) and 15 more on municipal roads. They will be monitoring the traffic situation 24 hours as well as conducting frequent patrols in these roads," she said.

She said apart from concentrating on these roads, police would also station emergency response teams comprising police, Fire and Rescue services, St Johns Ambulance, Red Crescent and Civil Defence Department (JPA3) personnel at 16 locations nationwide.

The 16 locations are at the PLUS office in Gurun, Juru, Taiping, Kuala Kangsar toll plazas, Tapah, Slim River, Rawang PLUS offices, Nilai lay-by and rest and recreation area, Senawang, Tangkak, Yong Peng, Sedenak toll, Genting Sempah and Temerloh toll plazas, Gambang rest and recreation area and the Ayer Keroh integrated rescue squad headquarters.

On the reduction of speed limits at federal roads, mooted recently to reduce accidents, the federal police chief said police had just received the gazette on the matter.

The government two weeks ago, decided to reduce the speed limit of federal roads from 90kph to 80kmph while those with 80kph limit would be reduced to 70kph.

"For the expressways and highways the speed limit will remain at 110kmph. Besides that, heavy vehicles will be restricted from using these roads on Oct 20, 21, 27 and 28," Nooryah said.

The police will also conduct air surveillance through their Air Surveillance Unit and will have three watch towers for this purpose at KM270 North (Nilai, Negeri Sembilan) KM306 South (Gua Tempurung, Perak) and KM424 North (Rawang, Selangor).

"During Ops Sikap XI, traffic police will be imposing a maximum fine of RM300 for five major road offences - speeding, beating the red lights, cutting queue, using the emergency lane and beating double-line - and for non-fatal road accidents," Nooryah said.

Traffic police have set up a 24-hour traffic operations room and can be reached at: Hotline 03-27184445, 03-27184444, 03-27184442, 03-27184443 or fax to 03-27184440 and 03-27184441.