There’s no amnesty, says Gov’t
The Government has scoffed at claims that it has bowed to the threats of some operators of public passenger vehicles and provided them with a traffic ticket amnesty.
Following a late evening release from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) on Tuesday there was jubilation by some players in the public transport sector as they declared that their demand for an amnesty had been granted and their call for an extended period to pay outstanding fines also approved.
But early Wednesday morning Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck and minister with responsibility for information Robert Morgan shot down those claims as they told the Jamaica Observer that the Cabinet was clear that there would be no amnesty for people with outstanding tickets.
“I think it is wrong for any newspaper or any media to say this is an amnesty,” said Chuck.
“Every single traffic violator who has incurred a penalty will have to pay the penalty. The penalties will and must be paid, but if they pay by January 31st, they will incur no demerit points. If they fail to do so, all the consequences of the present Road Traffic Act (RTA) and those that will come under the new Act, which will come into force on February 1, 2023, will come into play.
“If the motorists with outstanding traffic tickets fail to pay by January 31st, 2023, then, on the 1st of February, not only will warrants be enforced but those motorists will not be able to renew their driver’s licence and the vehicle that they were using cannot have its licence renewed. So it’s totally inappropriate to call it an amnesty,” added Chuck.
In its Tuesday evening release the OPM announced that after wide-ranging deliberations and consultations with various government agencies and departments in relation to the implementation of the new RTA in February 2023, the Cabinet gave instructions as it relates to the implementation of the new legislation and the launch of a new traffic ticket management system.
“Cabinet, being cognisant of the overwhelming public demand for the effective implementation of the Road Traffic Act 2018 and a transparent and accountable traffic ticket management system, decided that legislative steps will be taken to render all demerit points and tickets accrued up to February 1, 2018 null, and as such they will not be transitioned to the RTA 2018,” OPM said.
“Provided that the tickets accrued after February 1, 2018 are paid before February 1, 2023, demerit points will be expunged upon the implementation of the RTA 2018, [and] Cabinet wishes to advise the public that as of February 1, 2023, with the new RTA and the new traffic ticket management system, there will be greater efficiency with a fully digitised process,” added OPM.
In providing clarity on the release, Chuck told the Observer that the Cabinet decision was made to ensure that the new system which comes into effect on February 1, 2023 will provide a clean slate, but this will apply only to motorists who pay up outstanding traffic fines.
According to Chuck, calls from operators of public passenger vehicles for up to six months to pay outstanding tickets were also ignored by the Government.
“We are not going to back down, and everyone who violated the road code must pay up and they have 40-plus days to do so,” declared Chuck as he noted that, unlike under amnesties in the past, where the outstanding fines could be paid at tax offices, motorists will have to go before the courts this time around to pay their fines.
“We are not so interested in the money. We are more interested in law and order on the roads. We need to stop the chaos and the carnage on the nation’s streets,” added Chuck.
In the meantime, Morgan told the Observer that the Cabinet decided to declare traffic tickets issued before February 1, 2018 null and void because it did not want to bring the old tickets over to the new regime.
“So it is not an amnesty, it is more of a technical action to protect the motorists and the Government from exposure in case there were errors in the data base,” said Morgan.
“We have not given an amnesty to any group. This is something that is applicable to every single motorist in Jamaica who has an outstanding ticket. It is not particular to the operators of public passenger vehicles,” added Morgan.