New Road Traffic Act will include Licensing Driving Schools and Cellphone Bans - Beware Motorists in Turbo mode of the coming Automated Traffic Ticketing System

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

Well it’s July 2013 and Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr Morais Guy has now confirmed that they are on schedule to have this revised Road Traffic Act in place before the end of 2013 with all the above in place as stated in the article “Road Traffic Act breaches to attract harsh punishment”, published Saturday, July 13, 2013, The Jamaica Observer. The obvious reduction in Road Fatalities is the aim, as the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing has it in mind to meet the NRSC (National Road Safety Council) target of below 300 road fatalities in 2013. 

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.