Dear Editor,

There are a few questions which I would like to pose to the government on the traffic ticket amnesty. The first is, how was the total value of outstanding tickets derived? I'd like to know if the calculated figure was using flawed data from the tax authorities, as it appears tickets thrown out and those paid at the court were still deemed to be uncollected. Obviously, this would significantly affect how much the government expect to collect from the amnesty and the projects it should support.

Additionally, what is the statute of limitations on traffic tickets? Is it that once you've been given a traffic ticket it stays forever, or does it fall away after a period of time has passed?

Although the data on the tax authority's website showed resolved tickets, it also showed tickets issued from as far back as 2002, which was 10 years ago. Does the government seriously hope to collect on these? Is it legal to collect on these? When the points system was rolled out there was never any impression of tickets lasting forever, or even that points were forever removed. I truly believe that people who owe should pay or attend court to have the matter resolved, but law is law, whether or not it is a shackle.

Robert Howell

roberthowelljm@yahoo.com