A taxi operator with three warrants and more than 170 outstanding traffic tickets, who was captured on a viral video last week committing yet another traffic violation, has been nabbed by the police.

Head of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) Gary McKenzie told the Jamaica Observer on Friday that the taxi man, 23-year-old Jervae Slowly, was seen via the dashcam of another motorist travelling along Molynes Road on the wrong side of the road “driving quite carelessly”.

The video seen by the Observer showed the dashcam of a vehicle in the left lane which had stopped to allow an individual to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing. Shortly after the person made it over to the sidewalk and the vehicle began to move again, the taxi being driven by Slowly was seen overtaking a line of traffic and ended up directly in the path of a vehicle as he attempted to get ahead of four vehicles which were in front of him.

In the video Slowly could be seen ‘fanning off’ the driver who had stopped when the taxi started to barrel towards it. The taxi man eventually made his way around the vehicle it had blocked by driving onto the sidewalk.

In that same video, a Coaster bus was also seen overtaking the line of traffic around a corner, with another taxi following close behind. The vehicle with the dashcam stopped, which the Coaster bus went around on the right side, while at the same time another Coaster bus undertook the vehicle on the left by driving onto the sidewalk, while the other taxi rejoined the traffic.

ACP McKenzie lamented that “these kinds of driving are really very careless and dangerous, and it is impeding traffic and causing a lot of congestion.”

He noted, however, that the traffic police have been doing a lot of work in terms of executing warrants and arresting unruly motorists. “The fact that someone can have 179 outstanding tickets really means that the police are prosecuting these people,” he said, in reference to Slowly.

The traffic top cop, in explaining how one motorist could still be operating a vehicle after amassing so many traffic tickets, noted that some of these outstanding matters are still being dealt with by the courts.

“There are other instances where, [for] some of the matters, persons are bound over and so on; and there are some that he may not have attended court but the warrants are just not yet issued,” he said.

The three warrants for Slowly’s arrest relate to: no public passenger vehicle badge; careless driving where no collision occurs; and failing to comply with traffic signs.

Last month, ACP McKenzie had told the Observer that the police were “actively searching” for more than 100 motorists for whom the court had issued warrants for their arrest for breaches of the Road Traffic Act.

Under a new Traffic Thursdays initiative the PSTEB has been publishing the names of motorists, including some with up to five warrants, and urging them to immediately turn themselves in to the office of PSTEB at 16 ½ Lower Elletson Road, Kingston 16.

“The police are actively searching for the persons [for whom warrants are out], and individuals who turn themselves in will be formally arrested and taken to court,” McKenzie told the Observer then.

He said that PSTEB had taken to routinely publishing the names via social media and has been reaping success.

McKenzie noted that some motorists, as a result of the social media posts, have turned in themselves.

“The JCF is doing its best to aid the public as it relates to informing them, or informing persons that it may affect, that there are warrants out for their arrest for road traffic breaches.

Slowly’s name was not among the 120 names published on the list.

PSTEB is urging anyone knowing the whereabouts of the motorists named to make contact with the police or give information by calling 876-349-9366.