TRANSPORT operators are appealing for international intervention in regard to the provisions of the new Road Traffic Act (RTA), contending that the legislation is too extreme and unjust, particularly to a sector which is providing a critical service to the public.

President of major sector group, Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODDS), Egeton Newman said the groups have coordinated with its legal team, to take the issue all the way to the high court if necessary.

“We are on our way to the high court, we met with the legal team this morning. It can’t be worse, [and] something must be done. It is important that some serious investigation be done at the very highest level with regards to this new Road Traffic Act, and I’m strongly calling upon international bodies, to dissect Jamaica’s Road Traffic Act. If it is not done, and done with alacrity, then serious things are going to happen in this country…something is wrong with our lawmakers, and something is very wrong with those persons who crafted the Act.”

He pointed to the offences of stopping in a prohibited zone, and driving a vehicle which exceeds the allowable tint levels under the law: “Now you’re telling me a man has a tint on his vehicle, over the required shade, and that man is charged $500,000? If that is not crime, if that is not wickedness in high places, it is nothing. If I come out of my vehicle and kiss my wife or my girlfriend, going off to work, and I am charged $6,000? But what is ‘no stopping’? The public transport sector is of the view that this Act was crafted for plugging the holes in the budget, it cannot be otherwise”.

Further, Newman who produced an image of a ticket issued on Monday for the offence of excessive tint, bearing a fine of $500,000, questioned whether the amount was an error. The provision in the regulations cited on the ticket (259 (1) bears a fine of $50,000.

The RTA regulations prohibits motor vehicles to be operated with visible light transmittance through the front windows of less than 70 per cent; and less than 40 per cent for other windows, while windscreens should not be more than 20 per cent tinted.

Continuing on the point of tinting, Newman argued that vehicles used by public officials and executives “are as black as jet”, asserting that conveyance of criminals, and criminal activity, was not confined to persons of less import in the society.

“Likkle taximan, who have to make his dollar, people have to wait for hours to have buses filled, to get to work and other places, and we are now being put on the gallows. The man below Cross Roads are feeling the pinch,” he insisted.

The new Road Traffic Act, which significantly updates fines and penalties for breaches, took effect on February 1, but the Government has been forced to review restraint system provisions for children so far, following public outcry against the practicality and onerous nature of the provision particularly on public transportation operators.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has since directed a team, which includes the National Road Safety Council, to conduct weekly reviews of the implementation of the law.