Why the delay in implementing Road Traffic Act?
IT HAS been three years since the Road Traffic Act, promising a rigorous approach to punishing traffic breaches, was passed in the Parliament. As the act made its way through the various stages, it was seen as the remedy for road recklessness and the instrument that would blunt the carnage we witness year after year.
“We feel confident that the new approach has been rigorous and it is going to take us to the right place, where discipline and law and order will reign on our streets,” declared Senator Kamina Johnson Smith as she guided the bill through the Senate.
Why should a law approved by Parliament take more than three years to be implemented? Our bureaucratic process is infamously slow, so we are not totally surprised by the delayed implementation. It was expected that, by 2019, the law would have been in effect. This would have come after the framing of regulations and a public-education campaign. Is it the case that the bureaucrats charged with working out the regulations are overburdened? Should there be a timetable outlining for the public’s benefit the implementation steps?
Delays in implementing laws must be seen in a wider context – betraying public expectation that Parliament will demonstrate its commitment to pursuing a robust legislative agenda to protect citizens and improve their lives. These delays also have social and economic consequences.
Mayor of Montego Bay Leeroy Williams has sent a signal that he is tired of waiting. Confronted by increased road crashes along the so-called Elegant Corridor in the tourist city, the mayor gave an urgent nudge to the Government this week, appealing for them to complete and implement regulations for the new act.
NEW OFFENCES AND BIGGER FINES
Concerned particularly about speeding along the highway, the mayor reasoned that the act, which introduces new offences and bigger fines, will help curb speeding and other poor driving behaviours.
We take small comfort from the fact that aspects of the law have been fast-tracked by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who is also chairman of the National Road Safety Council. This aspect deals with licensing of motorcyclists whose practice of using learner’s licences was being exploited.
But what is the timetable for implementing the entire act which gives additional responsibilities to the Island Traffic Authority? We can’t forget that the United Nations (UN) declared 2011 to 2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the specific target of lowering road traffic deaths around the world. Having made significant progress with the act during that decade, Jamaica cannot rest on its laurels. Neither, it seems, can the UN. Obviously not satisfied with the results, the UN last year also proclaimed 2021-2030 the second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the ambitious target of slashing road deaths and accidents by half at the end of that decade. So the battle to improve road safety is far from over.
Even with the COVID-19 pandemic which has made things notoriously difficult for everyone, and notwithstanding the imposition of no-movement days, road accidents have continued unabated.
Delays in implementing traffic laws have high costs to the nation’s public-health system and to road users. The key question is this: how many lives may have been saved if the act had come into effect in 2019?
We should therefore move forward quickly to see whether reckless road users can be checked before they kill or maim others. The law, if consistently applied, can be a speedy and efficient remedy.
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