Passing of road traffic regulations must be prioritised - PSOJ
Published:Friday | November 5, 2021 | 1:06 PM
The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) says the Supreme Court ruling granting an injunction blocking the police from issuing traffic tickets in excess of fines up to 2006 rates highlights another unacceptable lapse by the Government.
The interim injunction was granted on Wednesday in a claim brought by Maurice Housen against the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police.
The matter is set to be heard in 2023.
The PSOJ is again calling for the Government to complete and approve the regulations related to the Road Traffic Act as an urgent priority.
In August 2018, the new Road Traffic Act was approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate and to date has not been brought into force because of a failure to provide and approve the regulations to the act which contains the new fines.
This failure has resulted in and may facilitate inconsequential penalties for indiscipline on our roadways and further frustrate the efforts of the law enforcement to bring a sense of law and order to our roadways, the PSOJ asserted.
The PSOJ says, in recognising the connection between lawlessness and the breakdown in public order, it established a Monitoring Committee as a part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2020 between the organisation and the Ministry of National Security.
The committee provides oversight to ensure that the Government is focused on the timelines that it has set out for the completion of certain tasks to execute and improve the Traffic Ticket Management System, the JamaicaEye system, regulations to the Noise Abatement Act and motorcycle driving simulators in Western Jamaica for the improvement of public order and road safety.
According to the PSOJ, despite writing to the Ministry of Transport and formally requesting the inclusion of the enabling of the Road Traffic Act as a monitored process within the MOU, to date no response has been forthcoming.
The organization says it made the request as it recognised that the various targets by the Road Safety Council chaired by Prime Minister Andrew Holness have been frustrated by the failure to conclude the regulations and have them passed in the Houses of Parliament.
The PSOJ says the Government must send a strong signal to Jamaicans that it is serious about governance and establishing systems to protect the lives of citizens.
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