THE TRANSPORT and Works Ministry says it is determined to plug loopholes that allow people to acquire drivers' licences by fraudulent means.
"Too many people are driving fraudulently," said Minister Dr. Peter Phillips. "They cannot drive and have gotten licences by 'bandoolo' means. We are determined to remove them from the road and ensure that no one else gets on the roads by these means," he vowed.
The Minister was speaking at the official launch of EdgeChem Jamaica Limited's mobile paint shop in Kingston.
Dr. Phillips said the clamp down on illegal driving was part of a larger bid to encourage safe and lawful use of the road and to ensure that the full provisions of the Road Traffic Act were obeyed.
He said systems would be put in place to stop people driving without licences, prevent the overloading of haulage trucks, stop the certification of defective vehicles, provide effective monitoring of driving schools, driving instructors, garages and mechanics, and prevent the illegal erection of billboards.
The Transport Minister said the modernisation and restructuring of the Island Traffic Authority, which has responsibility for the Road Traffic Act, was one of the strategies being pursued. The authority is expected to become a statutory body in the current financial year.
There is an interim Director General and draft legislation providing for the change-over is expected to be submitted to the House of Representatives shortly. In addition, the Ministry will be establishing a mulit-agency Steering Committee to guide the transition.
It is proposed that the membership of the Committee will comprise senior officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Attorney General's Department, Ministries of Finance and Planning, Commerce and Technology and Transport and Works, the Revenue Board, the Jamaica Bureau of Standards, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel and the Public Sector Modernisation Project (PSMP) Management Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister.
