Dear Editor,

With the spate of crashes, road fatalities, and general lawless behaviour of motorists on our roads, the public waited with great anticipation for the roll-out of the new and improved Road Traffic Act (RTA), which has now stirred great anger in the Jamaican travelling public.

The policymakers and crafters of the RTA cannot give themselves a pat on the back because they did not do justice with the provisions of this legislation.

As I see it, without giving much thought, they have cut and pasted traffic laws of First World countries to fit our context.

How could they not see that some of them cannot work in our country.

Most First World countries provide school buses for their students, Jamaica does not, so the seat belt law is one that makes little sense. Now the public is up in arms and the Government, rightfully, is making an effort to review this provision in the Act.

What are the provisions of the RTA for a foreigner/tourist who commits a traffic infraction and given a ticket? What if that person refuses to pay the ticket, how will such a fine be collected? I think there should be a provision in the law to charge the registered owner of the vehicle in such cases, for example car rental companies. The rental companies would then be responsible for reclaiming the fines/fees from their customers.

The Act should also require that truck drivers and public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators take and pass a medical examination in order to obtain and renew their licence.

The bottom line is that the police must target those drivers who display reckless behaviour, such as overtaking lines of traffic, turning one lane into two, etc.

Meanwhile, the Government and its agency must be open to addressing the concerns of the public by tweaking some of the provisions of the RTA.

Authnel S Reid

reidaut@icloud.com