KINGSTON, Jamaica— With the pending introduction of electronic warrants, motorists are being warned that they could be pulled over by the police and immediately brought before the traffic court to settle outstanding matters.

Justice minister Delroy Chuck gave the warning Tuesday as he piloted the Electronic Transaction (Amendment) Act 2023 which was debated and passed in the House of Representatives.

It will now go to the Senate for debate and approval.

Chuck, in his prepared statement, told the House that the amendments to the Electronic Transactions Act represented one of the measures the Government was using to maximise operational efficiencies and improve productivity levels in the island’s courts through the introduction of a paperless, digitalised and digitised system.

He noted that over 70 per cent of the total annual case load in the court system is comprised of traffic matters. Chuck highlighted that during the current quarter 60,096 new cases were filed in the traffic division of the parish courts across the island, of which only 12,191 or just over 20 per cent were disposed of in the quarter.

“With the vast majority of these cases requiring the issuance of a warrant, the sheer volume of the documents required creates an unwieldly and untenable situation in the island’s courts as the demand for the timely execution of the process outstrips the available human resource capacity,” Chuck said.

The justice minister added that the existing process used in the courts to generate warrants is not sufficiently expedient to meet its current needs and requires an appropriate and immediate fix, namely the ability for judges to utilise an electronic signature in the issuance of warrants.

Chuck further highlighted that between February 1 and March 27 a total of 66,428 tickets have been issued for violations of the Road Traffic Act and Regulations.

Of this number, payment was made for 27,617 at the various tax collectorates across the island, 246 were settled in the courts and 5,511 will likely require the issuance of warrants in the short-term.

“When taken in the context of the fact that the remaining 33,054 matters generated over the last 55 days have still not been brought before the courts, along with the approximately 981,921 unpaid tickets issued up to January 31, 2023, the monumental task facing the court if reliance is placed on warrants issued by handwriting, cannot be discounted,” said Chuck.

“It is on that basis that the amendments to the legislation mentioned previously is being proposed, to assist in increasing the throughput and by extension productivity levels in the island’s courts using the available technologies,” the minister said.

Chuck pointed out that this was not a novel proposition as other jurisdictions such as the United States, Rwanda, and Scotland, facilitate the use of electronic signatures that are affixed through a secure process approved by the court and governed by legislation.