By Lynford Simpson, Staff Reporter
MORE THAN 200,000 traffic tickets remained unpaid by motorists up to the end of December 2001 and the police are unable to track them because of a malfunctioning computer network.
The police in fact do not know the exact number of unpaid traffic tickets and Government is losing millions of dollars in uncollected revenue.
Sergeant Hubert Dennis of the Elletson Road-based Traffic Department who suggested that figure might be conservative, also estimated that hundreds of motorists are driving around with suspended licences but said there was no way to verify the number.
"It (the computer system) is not working. We constantly have problems with it," Sergeant Dennis told The Gleaner. He said the mainframe of the system was based at the office of Police Commissioner Francis Forbes.
"Normally the traffic police would get a print-out of paid and unpaid tickets but we are now unable to generate that kind of information anymore," the traffic cop said.
Since the Traffic Department is no longer in a position to provide the courts with the relevant data, millions of dollars in revenue cannot be collected. Ironically, the revelation of the malfunctioning system comes just three months after the Ministry of National Security increased fines for traffic breaches by as much as 10,000 per cent.
In terms of the number of motorists who are driving with licences that have already been suspended, Sergeant Dennis thinks it is "too much to mention". He said with the system down, it was almost impossible to notify them. With no information coming from the Commissioner's Office, the Traffic Department is not in a position to notify the Licensing Authority as to which drivers should have their licences suspended. As such, some drivers having chalked up 50 or more points are still driving.
Some policemen were recently embarrassed when they went to serve summonses on persons who they thought had unpaid traffic tickets but who were able to produce receipts showing payment had been made, The Gleaner has learnt.
With this scenario, the Traffic Department will have a lot of catching up do whenever the system is upgraded instead of replaced, as has been recommended. This is because more than 50,000 tickets from traffic headquarters alone are not yet on the system.
