THE Government has made clear that it will not be relenting on provisions in the regulations to the new Road Traffic Act (RTA) which will see motorists charged with certain offences having the suspension of their driver’s licences remain on their records indefinitely, regardless of whether demerit points are expunged.

Leader of Government Business in the Senate Kamina Johnson Smith said there is no good reason to remove the suspension records.

“It’s important that we use the time here to say to people, ‘Is serious business now, be responsible.’ It is important that we use this platform in here to speak about safe use of the roads. The suspensions remain because there must be a record of the fact that you have transgressed at a level of seriousness that has had your licence suspended for a period of time. So even though you return to zero on your demerit points for small offences until you reach a point where your licence is suspended, the fact that you have reached that point cannot simply be removed,” she stressed during the debate on the regulations to the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2022 in the Senate on Friday.

“We don’t know who was injured, who was maimed in the accident, what damage was inflicted, causing cost to other taxpayers; what community had to do without light because they lick down the post, but we know that there was a serious enough infraction or the cumulation of sufficiently repeated infractions to result in the suspension of a licence that remains in the register. I don’t see a rationale for its removal from the register,” she argued.

Demerit points on licences will expire after 15 months, as long as less than 10 points are earned during the period. However, the Island Traffic Authority can order training or retesting for motorists whose licences are suspended. After the suspension period, those demerit points are to be expunged, according to the regulations.

The death toll from fatal collisions between January and Thursday, July 28, reached 281, from 245 crashes, according to the latest statistics from the police’s Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement branch. These are four more fatalities when compared to the similar period last year.

The latest major crash involved two buses on the Llandovery main road in Runaway Bay, St Ann, on Sunday morning. Up to Thursday the fatalities stood at four after another of the injured passengers who had been hospitalised died at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James. The man was among five critically injured patients who had to be transferred to other health facilities for treatment. A total of 16 people were injured in the crash

On July 5 the House of Representatives approved the 299 clause regulations, which detail the schedule of offences and fines under the Road Traffic Bill.

Stakeholders from various sectors have been clamouring for the regulations to come into effect since the Road Traffic Act was passed in 2018 (revised to 2022, to effect new minor provisions to enable accurate implementation of the regulations).

Four years later the provisions, which are needed to operationalise the law, are before Parliament, but Transport Minister Audley Shaw has indicated that not all sections of the law will be brought into operation immediately. He said institutional arrangements have to be in place in order for new provisions to take effect.

A phased implementation plan is being finalised with key stakeholders, Shaw added.

Shaw warned that traffic violations will be pinpointed through the use of cameras and that motorists will be ticketed electronically for offences, such as speeding, disobeying traffic signals, and operating unlicensed and uninsured vehicles.

“Where traffic offences are detected remotely, the owner of the vehicle will receive the ticket,” he said.

Amendments to the Transport Authority Act have also been made as part of implementing the RTA.