RANGOON — The Rangoon Division government announced on Monday that it had impounded a number of sports vehicles, automobiles fitted with power exhaust systems and motorbikes as part of a crackdown on reckless driving in the city.
Since Dec. 4, the government has impounded 52 modified or high performance vehicles and four motorbikes, in an effort to curb the number of traffic accidents and improve road safety.
“We are impounding cars under the aegis of the divisional government. Previously, all we did according to the traffic rules and regulations was just fine drivers for speeding,” traffic police captain Zaw Myo Tun told The Irrawaddy.
“We’ll take actions against [drivers] in line with relevant laws,” said Col Tin Win, the divisional minister for border affairs and security, at a press conference on Monday. “In the past, we only fined them, and they did not take it seriously and continued to drive on Yangon’s streets. But now, we’ll take severe action.”
The crackdown has been prompted in part by frequent complaints from Rangoon residents about the reckless driving of sports cars, said Col Tin Win.
The divisional government will check whether seized cars have been imported illegally and sanction drivers accordingly, in line with laws on illegal importation and the Yangon City Development Committee’s municipal traffic laws.
The government said the impounding of high performance vehicles would continue until all such vehicles are removed from the city’s roads.
