The senior citizen, who was caught on video driving against traffic on the New Pantai Expressway (NPE), suffers from dementia and hearing difficulties.
Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Mohd Zani Che Din said the suspect, a 76-year-old man, was a small-time contractor who has since retired.
“His two sons brought him to the Petaling Jaya Traffic division at about 8pm on Friday and we have since recorded his statement.
“We discovered that the man has dementia and trouble hearing. He also often gets lost when venturing out from his home,” he said
Zani said the man was released on police bail at 10.45pm and investigations into the incident, which happened on Thursday, are still ongoing.
The video, which lasted for over five minutes, shows the white Perodua Viva heading towards oncoming traffic near Taman Dato Harun in Petaling Jaya.
Several vehicles were seen avoiding the car and motorists were also heard shouting at the driver to use the correct lane, but the man drives even faster during the evening rush hour.
NPE patrol personnel are then seen ordering the man to stop but he ignores their instructions.
The video ends with patrol personnel successfully stopping the vehicle while shouting and knocking on the window on the driver’s side.
Earlier, it was reported that the motorist was believed to be mentally unstable and wanted to commit suicide.
A police source told the New Straits Times that this was what the driver told NPE patrol personnel upon being questioned in 4.50pm incident.
“We were informed that the driver, a senior citizen, appeared unsound and was mumbling about wanting to commit suicide,” the source was quoted saying.
Apparently, after questioning, the NPE patrol personnel contacted the driver’s children to fetch him.