KINGSTON, Jamaica—Transport Minister Daryl Vaz is warning that there will be zero tolerance for traffic violators come October 1, 2026, when the demerit point system under the Road Traffic Act, 2018, and Road Traffic Regulations, 2022, will take effect.

“For the October 1st implementation of the demerit system, we have to find a way to deal with this backlog, and if this backlog cannot be dealt with physically, based on resource challenges between now and October 1st, then we will have to come with some kind of legislation to be able to implement. They have a booth here for 50 tickets and over.

That clearly shows that the system is broken, and what I’m committing to do is to make sure that October 1st or any other date that will be set is a new day, zero tolerance, and those who are breaching the road traffic laws must be held accountable by the demerit points to deter them and, if necessary, take them off the roads with suspension of licences,” Vaz told Observer Online.

He was speaking during day two of the Kingston and St Andrew Traffic Ticket Public Days at the National Arena on Thursday. The two-day initiative allows registered motorists to settle outstanding traffic tickets and warrants.

According to a press release issued on Tuesday by the Judiciary of Jamaica, more than 43,000 outstanding traffic tickets are expected to be dealt with during the event. The initiative is being conducted in partnership with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and the Ministry of National Security’s Ticket Management System (TiMS).

The judiciary said the programme is part of its ongoing efforts to reduce the backlog of traffic matters before the parish courts while providing motorists with an efficient way to have eligible cases heard and resolved.

Tricia Cameron-Anglin, chief executive officer of the Court Administration Division, said she is pleased with the turnout for day one of the initiative.

“We were able to take them through the hearings and have them get their sentences handed down and administratively dealt with as well for the day. So we’re pleased with the turnout, and we’re also pleased with the result,” Anglin said.

She, however, noted a two-day period would not be enough time to deal with the backlog of traffic tickets currently before the court.

“Our backlog for Kingston and St Andrew is over 400,000 tickets, and for the two days that we had set out, we had just over 45,000 registrants for the two days. So as you can see, that’s still away from our 400,000. But what it has done for us is allowed those older tickets to come back into the system to be able to be processed because they have been holding up our courts, and over 90 per cent of our backlog, the total backlog for our court, are traffic tickets, and so this will help us significantly to reduce the number of tickets within our court so that we can treat more of the other cases that are before our courts,” the CEO added.

She urged motorists who may have a challenge in reaching the National Arena before 5:00 pm to still show up. She said the CAD representatives will be working up until 6:30 pm on Thursday.

READ: WATCH: Smooth start to Kingston and St Andrew Traffic Ticket Public Days