Tug-of-war on traffic amnesty

Ainsworth Morris/Staff Reporter

Bus and taxi operators bristling at the Holness administration’s rebuff of their strike that left thousands of commuters stranded in Greater Kingston and at least six other parishes have threatened to maintain protests as they press for an amnesty on traffic violations.

Hundreds of licensed public passenger vehicle operators parked their motor vehicles and withdrew their service in a bid to force the Government to bow to pressure.

But the Office of the Prime Minister pushed back against the protesters, arguing that it would not support lawlessness and disorder.

Appearing to solicit public support, the Government described the transport operators’ as unreasonable demands “which fly in the face of the laws of our country and have caused distress for well-thinking Jamaicans who are concerned that these actions display abject disregard for their needs as paying commuters going about their lawful businesses”.

Kirk Brown, president of the Eastern St Thomas Taxi Association, was shocked at the brusque response of Jamaica House.

“Mi never expect that. To tell you the truth, I was never expecting that from the Government,” Brown said in a Gleaner interview late on Monday.

“I was expecting that they would have come to the table with something more reasonable, especially since we are coming out of this pandemic … . I thought they would have been more reasonable,” he added.

Brown said that the transport sector had sustained major blows over two years from the coronavirus pandemic, which reached Jamaica’s shores in March 2020.

Curfews and lockdowns ground commerce to a halt, triggering the loss of 135,000 jobs and empty streets as many workers and students operated from their homes.

Aaron Mattis, president of the Spanish Town Taxi Association, said Monday evening that the Government should have relented by granting a two-month traffic ticket amnesty.

“I am not in agreement with the Government’s hard and fast approach not to grant an amnesty,” Mattis told The Gleaner.

His lobby is likely linked to the looming activation of the new Road Traffic Act, which will hike penalties for violations.

Jamaica’s traffic ticket system has been criticised as lax, with the law often observed in the breach.

In July, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said that motorists were collecting traffic tickets as “confetti”, noting that more than a million traffic tickets remained outstanding over the last five years.

Rogue taxi operators have historically been a nuisance on Jamaica’s roads, engaging in daredevil manoeuvres and racking up thousands of tickets with impunity.

It appears that the Government has sought to tap that sentiment in its riposte to the cabbies.

“We call on those who are engaging in the disruption of the transportation services to recognise the Government will not relent in its efforts to build a better and more disciplined transport sector. We urge all compliant public transportation owners and operators to continue providing their services to their fellow Jamaicans.

“Persons who have broken the law, and as result have unpaid tickets, must pay their fines as directed,” the Office of the Prime Minister said in its statement.

Raymond Bynes, president of the All-Island United Group Taxi Association and second vice-president of the National Council of Taxi Association, told The Gleaner he hoped the Government would have considered going back to the bargaining table with the taxi groups.

He, however, supports the Government’s rejection of lawlessness among rogue cabbies and aggressors who forced passengers out of vehicles and threatened drivers. Bynes condemned those actions.

In downtown Kingston on Monday, a taxi operator classified the Government as fools, saying officials should welcome the expected surge in revenue that an amnesty would spark.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com