Vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Dr Lucien Jones, says there is need for quick and decisive action to temper the likely effects of the recent court ruling on the penalties motorists are being charged for road traffic breaches.

“What we need to do now is to find a way to implement the Road Traffic Act. We are not happy with the situation, and nobody can be happy about that chaos but, by a twist of fate, it may become the impetus for those who are responsible for implementing the new Act to move quickly and decisively in the interest of road safety,” he told Jamaica Observer’s Auto magazine yesterday.

Today, the House of Representatives meets at Gordon House in Kingston with a view to hammer out issues raised by the Supreme Court that prevent the police from issuing traffic tickets with fines in excess of that which obtained in 2006. The ruling is likely to have implications for the more than $300 million in revenue the Government had budgeted to bring in from traffic fines for the 2020/2021 fiscal year.

According to the court, the penalties under the Traffic Act of 1938 have not been increased by Parliament or the minister of transport. However, the minister of finance in 2006 and 2007 increased these penalties and he has no such power.

The issuing of traffic tickets across the island by the police has taken a plunge since curfews across the island have been enforced, resulting in fewer motorists on the roadways and fewer violations of traffic laws.

In the meantime, the Road Safety Unit (RSU) in the Transport Ministry is appealing to all motorists to reduce their speed, especially in built-up areas, as well as on inter-parish major thoroughfares.

This appeal comes in light of the 385 people who have been killed due to traffic crashes since the start of the year.

According to RSU Director Deidre Hudson-Sinclair, “Road users must obey the rules of the road at all times, even in the COVID measures. We cannot afford to lose anyone else. Slow down and save lives.”