Vice chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Dr Lucien Jones, says that major improvements are expected to come into effect this year in an effort to encourage better road safety practices and reduce fatalities.

Chief among them are plans to adopt a new Road Traffic Act, which the NRSC hope will be realised by mid-2011.

According to Dr Jones, the review exercise for the preparation of the draft Bill and the supporting legislation, has been undertaken by a multi-sectoral committee of the Ministry of Transport and Works which has portfolio responsibilities for the Act.

Dr Jones said that the draft Bill, which is far advanced, will be presented by transport minister Mike Henry to Cabinet for review, after which it will be submitted to Parliament.

“The legislation will be a significant step in promoting road safety as the provisions proposed include a ban on the use of cell phones while driving and the adoption of an international tyre standard,” said the medical doctor, convenor of NRSC meetings.

He added that currently there are no standards in the Act for the Island Traffic Authority to use when vehicles are being tested for fitness.

Other issues proposed in the draft Act are the granting of powers to the police to seize vehicles that are uninsured, and the designation of school zones with reduced speed limits and time periods for reduced speed in these zones.

Amendment to Act has been on the table for some time but has not been passed due to delays in fine-tuning legal concerns.

“We feel the draft should go as is,” executive director of the NRSC, Paula Fletcher told Auto this week.

“The [transport] minister needs to take it at this point and whatever amendments and additional matters come down the road, so there is no further hold up,” she said.

Fletcher, noted that the draft Act also outlines the responsibilities of pedestrians, as well as greatly increasing the ability of the police to issue a ticket for moving violations, which often fall in the careless or dangerous driving offence category.

According to Fletcher, a traffic ticket, while addressing the usual function, should also serve as a summons for offences that require a mandatory court appearance.

“A mandatory Court appearance would be required as a Judge has to rule on dangerous and careless driving offences due to their subjective nature,” said Fletcher.

“Tickets doubling as a summons, removes the necessity for the police to issue a summons, subsequent to their encounter with the motorist when the ticket is first issued,” Fletcher argued.

“The mischief this seeks to correct is the difficulty of the police to find motorists to issue summons, in a context where many motorists give wrong addresses or don’t notify the authorities of a change of address,” she added.

Fletcher further explained that the Act will also clearly define and identify the Road Traffic Authority “thereby removing grey areas and uncertainty, which currently exists in this regard.” The new legislation will also outline the responsibilities of all agencies cited in the Act.

In the meantime while last year’s statistics have shown improvement over the previous year, NRSC chairman prime minister Bruce Golding, and Dr Jones, both contend that much more needs to be done to facilitate safer road use.

Statistics, to date, indicate a decrease in all categories of road fatalities and car crashes, except pedestrians, which showed an staggering 39.8 percent increase, moving from 83 deaths in 2009 to 116 in 2010.