Editorial | Demerit flip-flop

There may indeed be flaws in the demerit-points system for motor vehicle drivers.

But sceptics have good cause to feel that the latest announced delay in the scheme’s implementation has less to do with pursuing real fixes than the Government’s pandering to taxi and other public transportation operators. The perception is that the strategy of these groups is to whinge, threaten and delay until the demerit-points arrangement is forgotten and withers into oblivion. The transport operators, with respect to this matter, are utilising their well-worn playbook.

They should not be allowed to succeed. Serious people, including road-safety advocates, must insist on a hard timeline for the Government to complete this latest review of the system and set a date for its implementation. They, especially the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), must be vigilant to ensure that what emerges from the review is not so watered down as to render the arrangement toothless and ineffective.

Jamaica’s Parliament passed a new Road Traffic Act in 2018. It did not come into force until 2023 after a four-year development of its regulations. Partially!

The new law, like the old one, has provisions for demerit points. If a driver accumulates 10 or more points, but fewer than 14, his or her licence to operate a motor vehicle is suspended for six months. For 14 or more points, but fewer than 20, the suspension is for one year. The accumulation of more than 20 points leads to a suspension for two years and requires that, at the end of the period, the driver undergo a competency test before being reissued a permit.

Among the traffic-ticket offences that are supposed to attract demerit points are:

• Speeding: three to 10 demerit points;

• Careless driving when a collision occurs: four points;

• Reckless and dangerous driving: 10 points;

• Reversing for more than two vehicle lengths in order to turn: four points;

• Overtaking in a way that obstructs oncoming traffic: three points.

PROFOUND DANGER

For careless drivers, these points could quickly add up. For reckless ones, the danger is profound. It is not surprising, therefore, that Jamaica’s bus and taxi drivers/operators, with a reputation for aggressive competition and jostling for fares, have been vehement in their opposition to implementation of the system, even as their spokespersons claim general agreement with, and support for, the mechanism. There have been several confirmed cases of taxi operators with hundreds of outstanding traffic tickets.

Before the promulgation of the Road Traffic Act, an amnesty was granted to motorists to clear hundreds of thousands of outstanding traffic tickets. This, the Government said, was in part because some of the backlog was caused by an old paper-based management system that sometimes did not properly reconcile information from the police who wrote the traffic tickets, tax offices where they may have been paid, and courts where matters were settled after the dates for the voluntary payment of tickets had passed. Implementation of the demerit-points system was also delayed to prevent the system from showing motorists with demerit points beyond the threshold for the suspension of their driver’s licences.

With a new electronic-ticketing system in place, there was supposed to be a fresh start. The police and road-traffic authorities were supposed to begin applying demerit points in 2024. However, in June of that year, route taxi operators, particularly those in the Kingston Metropolitan Region (KMR), parked their vehicles for a day, inconveniencing tens of thousands of commuters. They insisted on a recalibration of the points system, saying that some penalties were too steep and that some minor infringements should not reasonably attract demerit points.

It has been two years since the Government delayed implementation pending a review. In July, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz announced that the scheme would be enforced from the start of October.

“It is important to note that implementation of the Demerit Point System was previously suspended to provide additional time for compliance. That period is now ending,” Mr Vaz said. “... From October 1, 2026, the system will be fully operational, and a zero-tolerance approach will be adopted towards traffic violations, particularly those that endanger lives and undermine road safety.”

Taxi drivers have been threatening to strike and pulling back at the last minute, an approach seemingly aimed at keeping commuters uncertain and on edge.

Last week, government ministers, the heads of transport-related government agencies and private transport operators met in the face of the strike threats. Judging from the official report of that meeting, the review of the system from two years ago is not yet complete, although some work, it suggested, was done. Another delay was agreed.

“Minister (Marisa) Dalrymple (minister of state for justice) agreed that the implementation date will not come into effect until a full revision of the demerit-points system is completed, which is expected to incorporate recommendations from the committee as well as the rollout of an education programme,” the Island Traffic Authority announced.

The most charitable pronouncement to be made of this development is that it was another fudge, or a monumental case of bureaucratic bungling. If indeed the review of the system was not complete, Minister Vaz ought to have known when he announced the latest implementation date. If he knew and chose to proceed, that was a deliberate policy decision.

The question now is: What changed?