Digital registry for drivers soon; repeat offenders face licence suspensions, revocations

The Government is moving to strengthen the enforcement of road traffic laws through the creation of a national digital registry of drivers and road users, a measure expected to improve the suspension and revocation of drivers’ licenses for repeat offenders.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, said the current system is hampered by its reliance on manual records that are dispersed across various locations, making it difficult for magistrates and law enforcement to access a person’s full history of offences.

“Every offence, the data in relation to antecedents… is manually stored,” Nandlall said during an interview with News Room on Thursday. “The magistrate court would not have the previous convictions or charges of that person… and that stultifies the enforcement of these important measures.”

He explained that under the new initiative, authorities will construct and populate a centralised digital registry containing critical information on road users, including their licensing particulars as well as records of previous charges and convictions for traffic-related offences.

The Government intends to have the registry operational as quickly as possible, though Nandlall acknowledged that its rollout will depend on coordination between technical teams and the agencies responsible for supplying the data.

Once implemented, the registry is expected to close longstanding gaps in enforcement by ensuring that repeat offenders are properly identified and penalised in accordance with the law.

The system will be made accessible to key state agencies such as the Judiciary, the Guyana Police Force, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Probation Department, the Guyana Prison Service and the Guyana Revenue Authority. This, Nandlall said, will ensure that judicial officers and enforcement authorities have immediate access to accurate antecedents when making decisions.

“For example, a person who is convicted for a second or third time for a drunken driving offence can now, in keeping with the law, have his or her license either suspended or revoked,” he explained.

Also, Nandlall highlighted growing concerns over excessive noise from vehicles, particularly motorcycles operating without proper muffler systems, as well as the indiscriminate dumping of garbage in public spaces. He said these behaviours contribute to an unacceptable level of disorder that the Government intends to address through updated laws and stricter enforcement.

“We can’t continue with this system of uncivilised behaviour,” he said.

The Attorney General noted that efforts will be made to incorporate existing records into the new system by digitising data currently stored in physical files across various agencies. While this process will depend on the availability and accuracy of those records, he said the aim is to go as far back as possible to ensure the registry is comprehensive.

“We will go as far as the record currently held… will allow us to go,” he said.