Cedric Stephens | New thinking on road mayhem

The newly appointed general manager of the JN Group’s non-life insurance subsidiary, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, has brought new thinking to the industry to which her company belongs. Bravo.

Her bosses should be applauded for appointing another industry outsider to lead the organisation given the many challenges that it and the industry are now facing. Full disclosure: I started my insurance career at NEM Insurance, the forerunner to JN General. Years later, I was invited to participate in a memorable interview for the top job.

Happily, for readers of this column, my training, professional qualifications, work history, experiences, and accomplishments were insufficient to persuade the interview panel that I was the best person for the position.

Last Thursday, JN General hosted a free webinar titled ‘Road Safety – Stop the Mayhem, Save Lives’. Decades earlier, I proposed an idea to the chairman and major shareholder of the island’s biggest motor insurer. The long-term success of his company depended, to some degree, on how pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists used the island’s roads. The company, I suggested, should develop a strategy to promote road safety. He did not agree.

Dr Morris Dixon clearly understands the direct, indirect, social, and economic costs of motor accidents and the impacts that they can have on her company’s operating results.

The 323-page Road Traffic Regulations 2022 were recently passed by Parliament. They were enacted under the 179-page Road Traffic Act 2018. They provide the context for today’s article. When the new regulations are read in conjunction with the statute and the Road Traffic Amendment Act of 2021, the scale of the changes that are being made becomes clear.

The government said it decided to repeal the 1938 Road Traffic Act and replace it with new legislation, adapted for local conditions. The new rules are in keeping with international best practices for road safety. Changes include how traffic is managed, driving schools are regulated, new drivers are licensed, and road-users should behave.

New enforcement tools, schedules of fines, and penalties for those who fail to comply with the law and regulations are also being introduced. The regulations include information that, in the past, formed part of the Road Code and/or was published in The Jamaican Road Users’ Guide and The Jamaican Driver’s Guide. These booklets were last reprinted in 2000 and 2011, respectively.

HIGH-SPEED TOLL

Jamaica’s road network has undergone major changes. The commissioning of east-to-west and north-to-south high-speed toll highways are examples. Also, the use of cellphones while driving is now the norm despite the risks. The law will restrict their use.

The information that was recently posted on WhatsApp about a few of the fines that are being introduced represents a small fraction of the changes that are being made.

The rest of this column will highlight a few items in the regulations that are of interest to motorists and that other media ignore.

Part II, Section 10(3) deals with renewal of licensing of motor vehicles. Even though the decal issued by the tax office does not mention a grace period, this rule allows 30 days after the expiry date for renewal without penalty.

Section 11 (1) deals with inspection of certificate of fitness, licence certificate, insurance certificate, or cover note, and more. The lawmakers have displayed ignorance of the digital world and the intent of the Electronic Transactions Act by requiring the owner or driver of a motor vehicle to keep the certificate of fitness, the licence certificate and the insurance certificate or cover note or certified copies available for inspection, upon request. Why aren’t digital copies of these documents permitted when there is talk about digital wallets and digital currency?

Sections 76 to 101 deal extensively with the subject of motor vehicle lights – which are referred to as lamps. Headlamps are the subject of Section 86. Subsection 4 reads: “Every headlamp emitting a low beam of light shall be so adjusted and maintained that – (a) it is capable of adequately illuminating an area ahead of the motor vehicle, enabling the driver of the motor vehicle to see any person, vehicle or any other object at a distance not exceeding 90 metres ahead of the motor vehicle; (b) it does not cause a glare that presents a danger to oncoming traffic on a level road.”

SUSTAINED PROGRAMME

Presumably, this provision will give the police the authority to begin a sustained programme of cracking down on those motorists who believe that it is okay to blind other motorists with specially fitted high-intensity LED light strips at night.

Section 167 will give access to motor insurance companies on the payment of a fee to the Driver’s Licence and Offences Register. Insurers will use information in the latter database to make insure or not to insure decisions and/or how much to charge.

Part VII of the regulations is titled Electronic Monitoring and Surveillance. Section 237 permits the Island Traffic Authority to install electronic devices on or near a road to monitor and detect when traffic violations are committed. Section 238 lists the eight violations that the devices will monitor and enforce compliance. Section 241 says that ‘where an electronic detection device captures a photographic image or video recording of a motor vehicle that is involved in the commission of an offence referred to in regulation 238, the owner of the motor vehicle, having been served with a notice of the offence, shall be responsible for the payment of the penalty for the commission of that offence.’

The elements I have highlighted are but a small sample of the major reforms that are being undertaken by the authorities. One problem that I foresee when the new rules become effective is that the process for the determination of liability for motor vehicle collisions will take much longer as insurance company employees, from my experience, are often ignorant about the old rules.

Does the Insurance Association of Jamaica plan to participate in a public education programme or will this be left exclusively to the organs of state?

- Cedric E. Stephens provides independent information and advice about the management of risks and insurance. For free information or counsel, write to: aegis@flowja.com or business@gleanerjm.com