Cabbies want more time to pay traffic fines

Some taxi operators are not satisfied with the terms of the traffic ticket amnesty announced by the Government on Monday, arguing that the month-and-a-half window to pay outstanding fines is too short.

On Tuesday night, the Government pledged to wipe from the slate all infractions committed on February 1, 2018. It also said that if outstanding tickets were paid by January 31, 2023, demerit points generated after February 1, 2018, would be expunged.

On Wednesday, taxi operators remained livid after lobbying for a payment plan to be implemented to spare drivers who had racked up several tickets ahead of the implementation of the new Road Traffic Act next February. They contended that they should have been given at least three months to make the payments.

Leroy Hewitt, who plies a route from downtown Kingston, argued that he and many of his colleagues have numerous responsibilities and demands for the festive season and cannot pay all their outstanding tickets in under two months.

“We have wi families to feed. We have the owners of the car to get paid. We have light bill, water rate, everything, so it’s kind of hard,” he told The Gleaner while scanning the surroundings for potential passengers. “It’s not that we don’t want to pay the tickets, but sometimes at the end of the day, we have no money. The money is finished, and when we go to court, dem a charge we twice – all three times the amount. So where will we find it at court if we couldn’t find it at the time for the tax office to get paid?”

He argued that taxi operators in downtown Kingston have it particularly difficult.

“They (the authorities) are not finding somewhere proper for us to park, so they keep giving us ticket on ticket on ticket,” Hewitt complained.

Another operator, Nickel Bowen, said that while he was happy for the partial relaxation, he also wished there had been more time.

“It’s Christmas now, and we have our families to buy gifts for and our daily expenses. Although work a run now, not all of us can save enough to pay all of the tickets off by January 31. We still have bills and other things to do; children to return to school in January, Christmas money fi give dem fi enjoy themselves, and dem things deh,” Bowen said.

On the other hand, fellow taxi operator Andre Smith was fine with the timeline.

Smith, who plies the downtown to Half-Way-Tree route, described the announcement as “a good thing”.

“A long time dem fi do something like that. Now, the taxi man dem can get fi pay off dem little outstanding tickets weh dem have. A di greatest thing de coulda ever do,” he told The Gleaner.

Yesterday, Egeton Newman, president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services, said his organisation is pleased with the Government’s latest announcement.

“The major challenge is that persons now have less than 50 days to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Government as some motorists/operators have in excess of 1,000 outstanding tickets, many of which are tickets paid already but have returned as unpaid,” Newman said, pointing to possible kinks in the system.

“It must be clearly noted that the commuting public will have challenges come February 2023 as many drivers will not be able to pay their outstanding traffic tickets,” he warned, however, calling for the time to be extended.

Newman added that there would be further disruptions if public transport operators have to continue working with limited bus stops, causing them to receive unwarranted traffic tickets.

“This is a warning. The system must be fixed,” he said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com