Dear Editor,

Increasingly, I am coming to the conclusion that Jamaica is a most oppressive and depressing place to live. Take the issue of getting a traffic ticket. Recently, I was stopped by two young cops who ticketed me for driving without my seat belt. No problem, I was guilty and they were doing their job.

Having received the document I was told to pay the fine of $500 at the nearest tax office. Unfortunately for me, the date was not written clearly so I had assumed that it was the 25th of March when in fact the due date was the 24th of that same month. I sent my bearer on the 24th and was then informed that the date had passed. He was advised to take it to the Freeport Police Station so that the date could be altered, but having done so this request was refused.

The Traffic Court is akin to the Middle Passage – overcrowded, hot and stink. It is this wretched environment that I was to subject myself to for an entire day in order to pay the fine. The thought of wasting an entire day was most daunting so I called a police officer and asked him if there was any way that I could escape such an ordeal in addition to wasting an entire day seeing that my surname begins with an S! I was told that I could send a bearer with my TRN.

In trepidation I sent my administrative assistant who incidentally had got a ticket for speeding. Her sojourn was a most terrible experience as she recalled that at one stage she almost fainted. Her last name begins with a G so she had to plead with an officer to allow her to pay my fine as she would have had to wait even longer until surnames with S were called. Incidentally, my fine moved from $500 to $2000.

Why does it have to be this way? Why can’t there be a more modern, user-friendly and humane process to deal with citizens of this country? Is it any wonder that so many traffic fines are not being paid and that people find all kinds of methods to beat the system including paying off police officers? Think of the many man-hours lost! And it is no use if one pleads not guilty so the majority of people are herded into this cramped, smelly space like cattle to quickly plead guilty and be fined. No wonder so many Jamaicans want to leave this country. I am beginning to feel that way myself.

I am appealing to the relevant authorities to revisit this system of paying traffic fines because, apart from being demeaning and dehumanising, it is a waste of productive time. The only entity that benefits is the government through its coffers. In the final analysis, being a Jamaican citizen means absolutely nothing. This kind of treatment is to be found in just about every government-run department. Alas, we live in a country where too many citizens just accept what they get and are not prepared to stand up and fight back.

Lloyd B Smith

Montego Bay, St James

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com