When from all the circumstances involving traffic offenses in violation of state law, township traffic ordinances or municipal traffic ordinances or any misdemeanor offense, the court is of the opinion that the accused will appear as required either before or after conviction the accused may be released on his own recognizance. A failure to appear as required by such recognizance is a misdemeanor and any obligated sum fixed in the recognizance shall be forfeited and collected in accordance with section 6.

     This section shall be liberally construed to effectuate the purpose of relying upon criminal sanctions instead of financial loss to assure the appearance of the accused.