This was evident by the pictures showing traffic jams on several major highways that went viral on social media recently.

However, the police have said that the jams were nothing unusual.

Nothing unusual apparently

Bukit Aman Traffic and Enforcement Department has come out and reveal that there were no unusual movement of vehicles at highways during the whole Hari Raya period.

Its deputy director Datuk Mohd Nadzri Hussain told New Straits Times that the observation was made based on the statistics collected by the department on Op Rentas for seven days, beginning from 10 May.

According to Mohd Nadzri, the police recorded one million less vehicles on the road during that period, compared to the same period the year before.

This year, 1,100,568 vehicles were detected on major highways during Hari Raya Aidilfitri on 13 May. Last year, 2,035,801 vehicles were detected on the highways.

"We can conclude that Malaysians have complied with the standard operating procedures (SOP) enforced throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) this year, which among others, restricted inter-district and interstate travel," Mohd Nadzri.

You must be wondering then; what's the reason behind pictures of the insane crawl on several highways, especially on the Karak-Kuala Lumpur Highway, that went viral on social media?

While Mohd Nadzri admitted that the police had noticed a slight increase in the number of vehicles on main highways on 15 May (a total of 462,373 vehicles), the vehicles had valid reasons to be on the road.

"Based on our inspections at roadblocks mounted on the highways, motorists travelling across districts and state borders were allowed to do so with reasons like long-distance married couples, working in essential sectors and emergencies," he was quoted as saying.

Mohd Nadzri further added that the jams were caused by stringent checks done by the police manning the roadblocks.

"I want to stress that there was no unusual movement of vehicles during the period," he further added.