Traffic fine hike is not the answer
Published:Tuesday | June 10, 2014 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
An article published in The Gleaner on June 6, 2014 titled 'Traffic fine hike - Speeding ticket charges may race by up to 300%' suggests that traffic fines will be ridiculously increased!
The article posits that some fines will be as high as $50,000, and it claims the reason is that the Government is trying to reduce road deaths. If indeed so, that is a commendable move, and one can appreciate that sometimes enforcing discipline by strong deterrents is inevitable and required.
Though this may be so, is taxing the already overburdened driver the answer, or is this a new tax that the Government has conjured up because other ideas were recently shot down? Hmm ...?
Commendably, the Government is also getting into gear for driver education (driver ed). Kudos to the Government! Finally, it is listening!
As someone who has held a New York licence, I have urged senior traffic personnel et al to implement a driver education policy. More than three years ago, in the Letter of the Day published in The Gleaner on April 26, 2011, I wrote, "... Long ago, I suggested to the Traffic Department that we do what New York does: implement mandatory classroom courses before a date is issued for the driving test or before mandatory retesting."
In the United States, it used to be a three-hour course, but was later increased to five hours. Initially, it may seem a Herculean task, but 'if we nuh do nutten bout it, it nah go get betta'.
"Fining, ticketing and attempting to increase fines to finance the Budget is not the answer" - especially since motorists have already borne the burden of increased taxes for driver's licences, registration and fitness fees! Why not attempt to educate, change bad habits, and teach youngsters or new drivers good driving habits? Remember, we are what we repeatedly do. (Good driving) then is not an act (e.g., when the police is present), but a habit."
While some fines may be necessary deterrents, for example, the proposed fines for drinking and driving - $50,000, the Opposition should stand with the motorists of Jamaica and deny some of the proposed draconian traffic taxes and not pass the bill in its entirety! Like the Jamaican taxpayers, who rejected the recent proposed tax by the minister of finance, the Opposition must also stand firm.
In closing, new fines suggest expected new order. Will the police prosecute their own for breaching the traffic laws? Do you think that new order will prevail? Or will the offender be 'absolved' when traffic cop finds out that it is his 'squaddie' that just committed a traffic violation? Will the police find a way to tax a motorist by issuing a ticket that he or she is not guilty of - simply because the Government's new implementation provides a 'backative'?
Does the Government intend to commit full attention to the deplorable road conditions that are many times contributors to these accidents and fatalities? Will the Government put in place proper crossings, be it overhead bridges, stop lights and the like, to make the road safer for pedestrians and motorists alike (so that on large and busy thoroughfares - such as Marcus Garvey Drive), pedestrians will not have to hurdle over the barriers to get to their places of work or back to the bus stops?
Is the Government trying to breed more corruption between citizens and police - as most will now be tempted to negotiate the ticket on spot instead of at the courts? Who is to stop the police, especially since these payouts will be greater?
HANDEL JOHNSON
Kingston 5