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With more than 500 outstanding citations, 45 errant drivers are cruising about.

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Floyd Green, a minister without portfolio in the office of the prime minister, claims that 45 Jamaicans continue to break the law by operating vehicles with more than 500 unpaid traffic citations apiece.

Between 100 and 499 other people, or 1,173, still owe traffic fines.

In his contribution to the discussion of the Road Traffic (Reprieve and Nullification of Prescribed Notices) Act on Thursday, Green made the discovery. Prior to the new Road Traffic Act going into force on February 1st, the Act offers relief to those who have outstanding traffic penalties. From February 2018 through January 31, 2023, there will be a respite.

Green emphasized that the majority of Jamaicans who receive traffic citations pay them and do so within the required period, despite the flaws in the present Traffic Ticket Monitoring System (TTMS), which will be replaced with a digitized system on February 1.

In all, 2, 371,494 tickets were issued between February 2018 and December 2022, he said. 1,666,371 of the tickets, or 71% of all those issued during the time period, were paid for. Only 46,000 Jamaicans have 106,070 unpaid tickets as of December 2022, Green informed the House.

The vast majority of his fellow citizens, he remarked, “honor their responsibility to pay their tickets.” He said that when the new Road Traffic Act goes into effect on February 1, 2018, citations issued prior to that date will be “null and worthless.”

Green declared, “We are erasing all of those tickets, and they will all be invalid.” According to him, up to February 1, 2023, all demerit points related to driver’s licenses would be removed.

The minister declared, “We shall have no more points, and we will start again.” But he said that because demerit points are awarded in court, people who still have unpaid fines must appear in person to get their issues resolved.

“We are going to erase all of the tickets from 2018 and all of the points. You will begin again on February 1st. However, if you wish to resolve the issue, you must go to court to have the case decided.

Mark Golding, the leader of the opposition, was unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade the government side to agree to an extension of the deadline, which was set for April 30, for people to resolve their legal disputes in order to avoid breaking the new TTMS.

Golding contended that the new Road Traffic Act will still go into force on February 1 notwithstanding this. However, he emphasized that those who are now attempting to pay their traffic penalties are being given dates.

Dr. Horace Chang, the national security minister, remained unmoved, insisting that a well-operating TTMS was essential for good public order.

Despite the difficulties individuals are currently having with the courts, he continued, “they broke the law and insulted the law” by refusing to pay when given the chance to do so.

Transport Minister Audley Shaw, who spearheaded the bill, asked anyone with outstanding tickets to contact the courts before February 1 in order to set up a payment plan.

Mikael Phillips, the transport spokesperson for the opposition, bemoaned the absence of the long-promised public education campaign on the new Road Traffic Act prior to its adoption during his contribution to the discussion. If it is not adequately implemented, he said, it won’t make much of a difference in decreasing the carnage on the country’s roadways.

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