KINGSTON, Jamaica — There will soon be a system requiring that all persons wishing to hold a PPV licence be vetted and registered, according to island traffic boss Superintendent Radcliff Lewis.

“As it is now anybody can just jump into a minibus and drive,” Lewis told the Jamaica Observer.

Lewis said that under the new policy drivers will be required to renew their registration annually and that a driving record will be required from the police’s traffic headquarters before the issuing of licences.

“This way the police will be able to monitor them,” Lewis said. “This will be implemented soon, soon, very soon.”

Lewis’ comments follow Monday afternoon’s fatal crash in the vicinity of the Victoria Mutual Building Society in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew.

A Coaster passenger bus ploughed into a group of pedestrians at a traffic light, killing one. The driver, Lewis said, was believed to be speeding and swerved to avoid running into the back of a car stopped at the light.

Both the driver and conductor fled the crash scene.

According to Lewis a number of the coaster bus drivers have obtained their licences by fraudulent means and that the police will continue to clamp down on them.

“I’m very much concerned about these drivers,” Lewis said.