KUALA LUMPUR: Vehicle owners with licence plates and window tints that do not comply with regulations will have a month to remedy the situation before police action is taken.

Federal Traffic Police chief Senior Asst Comm Mohd Fuad Abdul Latiff said they noticed an increasing trend of violations in this area.

“Due to security reasons, we have decided to give an ultimatum to these vehicle owners to revert to legal tinting and licence plates,” he told reporters at Bukit Aman yesterday.

Citing examples, SAC Mohd Fuad said there were instances where snatch theft victims could not identify the registration numbers of the getaway vehicles as they were either too small, too tightly spaced or had fancy lettering.

“Robbery gangs are also using heavily tinted vehicles to avoid suspicion.

“Under Rule 6(1) of the Motor Vehicle (Registration and Licensing) Rules 1959, the licence plate must be placed in an upright position and must be in accordance to specifications,” he said.

For window tints, Rule 5(1) and Rule 5(3) of Motor Vehicle (Prohibition of Certain Types of Glass) Rules 1991 stipulates that the minimum light transmission level of the front windshield is 70%, while windows and the rear windshield must allow at least 50% of light to pass through.

“Those who do not revert to the permitted tinting or licence plate specifications by June 15 could face a RM300 compound when stopped by police,” he said.

Meanwhile, SAC Mohd Fuad urged vehicle owners who had installed unauthorised strobe or flashing lights to dismantle them immediately.

“Only those who have the permision of the Road Transport Department director-general are allowed to use such gadgets.

“Anyone using them illegally is liable to a compound of RM300,” he said, adding that vehicle owners had until June 1 to remove them.

On another matter, unauthorised “marshalls” who direct traffic as they escort convoys are actually breaking the law.

SAC Mohd Fuad said these marshalls were becoming a common sight as many car and motorcycle club members travel in convoys.

“A traffic marshall can only direct, divert or stop traffic if he has permission from the police, and police personnel must be present when he is performing the act.

“Unfortunately, some have resorted to wearing jackets with the words ‘Marshall’ to perform the duties of the police,” he said.

SAC Mohd Fuad advised the public to ignore these traffic marshalls if they were not accompanied by police personnel.

On road safety, he revealed that fatal road accidents had dropped by about 5% in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the corresponding period last year.

A total of 1,623 deaths from 1,512 fatal accidents was recorded between January and March, which is almost a 5% drop compared to the 1,717 deaths from 1,592 fatal accidents recorded within the same period last year.

“In the first quarter, 114,115 accidents were reported compared to 116,412 cases within the same period last year,” he said, adding that motorcyclists made up 62.5% of the road fatalities with 1,014 deaths.