MOTORISTS will now have to ensure their contact information is accurate and up to date, in keeping with the amended 2018 Road Traffic Act.

This stipulation is one of two additional amendments to the Act which were approved by the Senate during its sitting on Friday.

The Bill was passed with no amendments in the House of Representatives on July 6.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Leader of Government Business in the Upper House, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, who piloted the Bill, explained that the change is being facilitated through the insertion of a new clause — 10 (a).

It states that Section 115 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting subsection 5 “for the purpose of the delivery of notices (tickets) under the Act, every owner and driver of a motor vehicle has a duty to provide to the authority, updated contact information whenever such information changes”.

Senator Johnson Smith noted that during the Bill’s review the amendment was recognised as being necessary to prevent the issue of the police being unable to contact motorists to issue them with tickets for traffic offences.

“It certainly could never be thought that we would go through these extensive amendments, even as we seek to implement a new electronic ticketing system, and allow people to say quite simply that they never received their ticket because their information was not updated and that there is no duty for them to so do under the law,” she said.

“We want to avoid loopholes after this mammoth effort,” Senator Johnson Smith further emphasised

She noted that while incorrect contact details will not be made an offence, “the duty will be there to ensure that car [and] bike owners know that your responsibility is to keep that information accurate”.

The other amendment brought to the Senate is a new clause – 9 (a) – to substitute the word ‘ticket’ with ‘notice’. This, as the word ‘notice’ is what is used for tickets in the road traffic regulations.

The Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2022 seeks to make minor amendments to the Principal Act which will ensure more accurate implementation of the road traffic regulations.

The Road Traffic Regulations, 2022 contains 299 orders, grouped into 13 parts, which provide for a slate of new offences and fines under the 2018 Road Traffic Act.

Debate on the regulations, which was initiated by Senator Johnson Smith during Friday’s sitting, was suspended until a date to be announced.