KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will be taking a zero-tolerance approach to persons who obstruct the free flow of traffic in town centres, during the busy Christmas period.

Assistant Commissioner of Police assigned to the Strategic Operations Portfolio and the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch, Dr Gary McKenzie, said the police will be clamping down on motorists who block other persons from moving freely.

“One of the things that we tend to do as Jamaicans is that we want to park right where we’re going, we want to stop and go right into our building. But that will not work, because that causes a lot of double parking. People park on roadways obstructing traffic; there is a lot of parking on sidewalks. When that is done, pedestrians have to retreat to the roadways and that causes potential dangers for them,” he stated, during a Jamaica Information Service Think Tank held on December 8.

“We will not tolerate obstruction through parking or vehicles being abandoned. When you return, the [vehicles] might not be there because we have to ensure that there are no delays, because whenever we have delays, then we have frustration and there is the propensity for persons to try and get by through careless and dangerous means,” he added.

McKenzie stressed that vehicles will be impounded, and owners will not be able to retrieve their vehicles without facing prosecution.

“Tickets will be issued. What we want is that persons… use the parking lots, and in the Yuletide season, we encourage carpooling. We are very happy that there are improvements in our public service bus system and that is one option, but carpooling is also another,” he said.

McKenzie noted that, while the high volume of traffic is inevitable during the period, once order is maintained, people will be able to go about their business in an orderly fashion.

“There are times when you simply can’t find anywhere else to send traffic. But once there’s order, people will eventually make their way. So, our strategy is to maintain order and to ensure that people conform with the law as they seek to go about their business,” he said.

— JIS