Earlier
in January 2013 Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Transport and works had pushed for
a more modern Road Traffic Act as stated by the horse’s mouth entitled “Davies
pushes for new Road Traffic Act by this year”, published
Tuesday January 8th 2013, The
Jamaica information Service. He promised the following changes
to the Road Traffic Act:
1. Use
of mobile phones while driving
2. Use
of in-car devices such as DVD players and Television
3. Driving
schools and instructors will be required to be certified by the Island Traffic
Authority
4. Driving
schools and instructors will be required to adhere to an approved curriculum
5. Driving
schools and instructors will be required to address issues such as defensive
driving
6. Motorists
who breach the Road Traffic Act may as punishment, be required to attend
refresher classes in order to get back their licenses
Zero
tolerance for Road Traffic Offenders is what this basically boils down to as
described in “Zero
tolerance for traffic offenders in 2013- Davies”,
published Tuesday, January 08, 2013 6:25 PM, The Jamaica Observer,
with assistance from the following Government Agencies:
1. JCF
(Jamaica Constabulary Force)
2. ISCF
(Island Special Constabulary Force)
3. ITA
(Island Traffic Authority)
4. Transport
Authority
This
would in the process save some JA$2 billion in health care for victims of
Crashes in Government run hospitals and another JA$8 billion in Insurance
claims, not to mention countless billions in lost productivity due to persons
injured and unable to work.
Hopefully
the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing also has plans to team up with the
Ministry of National Security and aid in the build out of the islandwide HD
CCTV (High Definition Closed Circuit Television) Network in a bid to introduced
an Automated Traffic Ticketing System as described in my blog
article entitled “GOJ
to upgrade NWA's CCTV Traffic Monitoring Network to give Police more eyes in
Private Places - The Da Vinci Code for Automated Traffic Ticketing System and
1984”.
This
is necessary as if the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing and the
Ministry of National Security are to address breaches of the new Road Traffic
Act as well as reduce Crime, they’ll have to work together to implement the above
HD CCTV Network.
Already
the Jamaica Police since the last two (2) years have been using Blackberrys in
conjunction with a Blackberry Law Enforcement Database to check motor vehicle
documentation and license plates as stated in “Traffic
cops turn to smartphones”, published Friday, June 21, 2013
by Balford Henry, The
Jamaica Observer.
In
fact these Blackberries may in fact be the very same “handheld units” that were
being referred to in my blog
article entitled “Handheld
Traffic Ticketing Units for Jamaican Police a success but no Automated Traffic
Ticketing System - GOJ fears the All Seeing Eyes of CCTV”.
Apparently a lack of funds or possibly a very good contractual arrangement with
Blackberry back in the Fourth Quarter of 2011 mean that the Ministry of
National Security had rolled out 550 Blackberrys in conjunction with the so-called
Blackberry Law Enforcement Database, with the ticketing success being as
achieved.
Whether
or not the Jamaican Police can obtain other information using their Blackberry
via scanning Open Bluetooth connections emanating from smartphones that may be
on their people’s possession is unknown. In fact, the Blackberry Law
Enforcement Database may actually be nothing more than the Jamaican Police
taking pictures of the vehicle license plates and documents and sending them to
the CCN (Constabulary Communication Network) or ITA (Island Traffic Authority) for
verification.
What
maybe be more possible is that the Jamaica Police may actually have LPR
(License Plate Reader) Technology as described in the article “Smile!
You’re being photographed by a license plate reader”,
published October 10, 2012 By Andrew Couts, DigitalTrends.
If not, this too can therefore be incorporated into the HD CCTV Camera Network,
thereby aiding the Jamaican Police in capturing both motorists breaking the
Road Traffic Act as well as identifying known criminals based on their license
plates.
Admittedly
the potential for abuse exists as argued in the article “Your
car is being watched: Are license-plate readers valuable tools or tattle tales?”
published July 19, 2013 by Marcus Amick, DigitalTrends
. But with the Jamaican Police being so far behind in terms of technology, an
update Road Traffic Act would do well to equip the Jamaican Police with these
modern-day crime fighting tools.
This
is so that the Jamaican Police can even think to even begin to combat those
Motorists who seem to thing themselves above the Law and roam the Streets of
Jamaica in Turbo
(2013) mode.
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