Embarrassed officials today suspended a contest offering citizens cash for photographs of traffic offenders after protests from lawyers.

The "Snap, Send and Win" contest awarded photographers with a weekly prize of RM150 for the best picture of traffic offences, with RM100 and RM50 for second and third places.

But the Road Safety Department's contest disappeared from its website Monday as Malaysia's Bar Council complained about the competition.

"Our concern was with giving rewards and having a contest on a weekly basis, because the supply of information and evidence ought to be done on the basis of public duty and civic consciousness, rather than based on the desire to obtain a reward," the council's president Yeo Yang Poh told AFP.

"Also if rewards are given out, it opens up the possibility of abuse by members of the public," he said.

Department officials refused to comment on the suspension of the contest - highlighted Saturday by Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy - but said it had been publicised to curb offences over the coming Chinese New Year holiday period.

"We are encouraging the public to be more alert on errant drivers," an official told AFP.

"We want drivers to think in this period of time that all law enforcers will be watching them."

Traffic crackdown

The department's director-general Suret Singh was quoted in a report Monday explaining the cash reward was to show appreciation for Malaysians' efforts in curbing offences.

"When they take photos of queue jumpers, overloaded lorries or motorists running the red light, they give us the information we need to nab the culprits," he was quoted as saying in the New Straits Times.

Police over the weekend launched a crackdown on traffic offences to reduce the spate of fatalities seen when Malaysians take to highways for the festive season.

The operations included the deployment of 12 uniformed police officers on long-distance buses to ensure drivers follow road rules.

However the state Bernama news agency Monday said 25 people had already died from deaths from 921 road accidents on Sunday.