GEORGE TOWN: Authorities should throw the book at repeat traffic offenders who drive while under the influence, including imposing longer jail sentences, as they pose a serious threat to public safety.

Senior criminologist Datuk Dr P. Sundramoorthy said these drivers should not be treated as ordinary offenders.

“They represent a form of high-risk offending, where an individual consciously disregards the safety, rights and lives of other road users,” he told the New Straits Times.

Sundramoorthy was commenting on the incident in Penang on Monday, in which a Mitsubishi Triton driven by a 29-year-old man crashed into several vehicles on the North-South Expressway before he was stopped by other motorists.

The suspect was found carrying a sling bag containing 0.75g of methamphetamine and another packet weighing 2.38g suspected to contain ketamine.

A urine test confirmed he had consumed methamphetamine and morphine. The suspect, with 15 prior drug convictions and two criminal convictions, has been remanded for four days.

“Such cases should not be viewed merely as traffic violations,” said Sundramoothy.

“In cases involving repeat offenders — particularly those with a criminal record — fines alone are unlikely to produce meaningful behavioural change.

“Financial penalties may punish the offence but often fail to address underlying factors such as substance abuse, impulsivity, anti-social attitudes and a history of law-breaking,” he added.

Driving offences involving aggravating factors should carry the possibility of substantial jail time, said Sundramoorthy.

“These factors include drug intoxication, repeat offending, multiple collisions or conduct that places large numbers of road users at risk.

“Courts should also seriously consider lengthy licence disqualifications, mandatory drug treatment programmes and psychological assessments before driving privileges are restored.”

The key issue, he added, was whether Malaysia’s current legal response adequately reflected the gravity of such conduct.

“Too often, dangerous driving is treated primarily as a road traffic offence rather than behaviour capable of producing consequences similar to violent crime.

“When a driver chooses to operate a vehicle while impaired by drugs, engages in aggressive manoeuvres and creates foreseeable risks of death or serious injury, the conduct moves beyond mere negligence.”

Such actions constituted deliberate recklessness, he said, because the possibility of causing catastrophic harm would be obvious to any reasonable person.

“Research has shown that repeat offenders often escalate in their offending behaviour if interventions are delayed or inadequate.

“Every serious reckless-driving incident that ends without fatalities should be viewed as a warning rather than a fortunate escape,” he said.

This article first appeared on NST.