More vehicles, drivers on our roads

There has been an increase in number of vehicles on Fiji roads. The number of drivers on our roads have also increased.

In the first-quarter of 2016, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) registered 1905 imported second-hand vehicles and 1026 brand new vehicles. LTA have registered 171,369 new drivers of which 129,360 drivers hold full driving licences while 20,032 have provisional licences.

Vehicle registration crossed the 100,000 mark last year with a total of 101,425 vehicles registered by LTA, of which 8959 were imported second-hand vehicles while 3707 were brand new vehicles. In 2015, 69,968 vehicles were privately owned. The number has since increased with a total of 103,415 registered vehicles currently running on our roads of which 72,543 vehicles are privately owned while 11,246 are Public Service Vehicles (PSV). The LTA has attributed the increase in the number of people buying vehicles to a healthy Fijian economy.

LTA chief executive officer Naisa Tuinaceva said: “This has been the trend over the past few years.

“In fact, the past year especially has seen a remarkable growth in the automobile industry and this is because our economy is quite robust and the lending rates are pretty good too, and this has made it easier for more people to buy vehicles,” he said. Mr Tuinaceva said the outlook remains very positive with every reason to expect the vehicle market to hold steady in 2016.

“It is good that people can afford to have their own vehicles but with the increase in the number of vehicles on our roads, the public must ensure that they are careful at all times because one mistake can be costly and we do not want that.