President Irfaan Ali at the start of the week announced revisions to the country’s laws to allow for electronic ticketing of traffic offences, but that is just a small part of a major shift in the government’s posture as it looks to clamp down on dangerous driving.
Already, the government has procured and begun testing an electronic speed monitoring system, targeting motorists and signalling the beginning of the end to the highly contentious practice of police-operated speed guns.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, who will next year table amendments in the National Assembly, described the move as innovative. He said there will be a merger of the closed-circuit camera system with the road traffic statutory framework
“An amalgamation of the two will produce the mechanism that will allow for the camera to generate data that the road traffic regulating network will use for criminal charges under the Road Traffic Act,” the Attorney General added.
He was keen to point out that the current laws, which allow for charges and successful prosecution for offences like speeding, remain in place but the new measures will bolster that.
“Right now, as I speak, the police can charge you with speeding, that law is still enforced. The objective of the new legal measure is to curb dangerous driving which is the cause of so many unnecessary deaths.
“One of the major factors in dangerous driving is the element of speeding and the changes we are talking about are intended obviously to address that mischief as well,” Nandlall told the News Room during a telephone interview on Wednesday.
He reasoned that the purpose of the innovative concept is for the public good.
“The ordinary law continues to apply but new measures will come into force early in 2022.”
That will depend on the full operationalisation of the CCTV system working in tandem with the police road traffic networks.
The new system will register the speed the vehicle is moving at, the number plate, and the type of vehicle and will provide photographic evidence which would also show whether a person was wearing their speed belt.
Then, a new electronic ticketing system will be introduced where the ticket will be sent via mail and also directly to the Courts.
“I’m giving you an early warning; your electronic ticket will be sent to the court and your home simultaneously. Good luck, Merry Christmas,” the Head of State said recently.
