Over 1 million traffic tickets unpaid

Lawless motorists who Justice Minister Delroy Chuck claims are collecting traffic tickets as “confetti” without settling their obligations are being warned that they will suffer tough sanctions from the looming implementation of the Road Traffic Act, 2018.

More than a million traffic tickets remain outstanding over the last five years, said Chuck, who cautioned delinquent motorists that the consequences for failing to settle these payments will result in motorists not being able to renew their motor vehicle registration or driver’s licences.

“In a matter of weeks or months, it will be threefold to enforce the penalties because when you breach the rules of the road, there must be consequences,” he said.

Chuck said that in the first instance, warrants could be issued for motorists to be locked up and taken before the court.

The Government is also moving to introduce the electronic signing of warrants to expedite the process.

The justice minister reported that for the period June 1, 2017 to June 30, 2022, a little more than 2.4 million traffic tickets were issued in Jamaica. Of that number, about 1.2 million tickets were paid to Tax Administration Jamaica. That has left 1,099,157 unpaid tickets.

According to Chuck, an average of 280,000 tickets are brought before the courts annually, of which only 60,000 are paid.

In his contribution to the debate, Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Daryl Vaz said that discussions have taken place with eGOV Jamaica Limited to advance the technology to deal with the electronic signing of warrants.

“We had discussions and we will find a way to find the funding to start this process of connecting the court system with the police and all the various government entities,” Vaz said.

He told his parliamentary colleagues that the indiscipline that is being played out on the nation’s roadways cannot be allowed to continue.

Minister of Transport and Mining Audley Shaw said the implementation of the Road Traffic Act should not be seen as the only step to improve safety on the roads.

He said that with close to 500 people dying in motor vehicle accidents on the nation’s roads, the Government was targeting a 50 per cent reduction in motor vehicle fatalities by 2030.