THE EDITOR, Sir:
OUR COMPANY would like to expose what we consider to be an illegal and/or immoral practice by the Traffic Police of issuing tickets to drivers of pickup trucks for not having mudguards on vehicles.
Our experience began on the 23rd of April 2003 when our driver was given Ticket #A3442421 with the offence listed "No mudguards".
We researched this charge as we had no prior knowledge that pickup trucks were legally required to have mudguards as the vehicle was legally imported into Jamaica some nine years ago and it was given a Certificate of Fitness every year for the ensuing nine years.
We reviewed the following:
1. The Road Traffic Law (CAP. 346)
The Road Traffic Regulations 1938
2. Offence Code Description effective 2003/01/01
3. An Act to Amend the Road Traffic Act - 13/7/84
4. An Act further to Amend the Road Traffic Act - 8/10/84
5. An Act to Amend the Road Traffic No. 16 - 1984 Act - 19/2/93 No. 1 - 1993
The only reference we could find which might apply to 'mudguards' is on Page 6 of the Road Traffic Law 1938 which reads:
'Wings'
12 - "Every motor vehicle shall be provided with wings or other suitable fittings to catch, so far as practicable, mud or water thrown up by the rotation of the wheels, unless adequate protection is afforded by the body of the vehicle".
It was our opinion that this antiquated law, written 65 years ago, has no application to modern pickup trucks, where the wheels are placed in 'wheel-wells'. If pickup trucks require mudguards then all automobiles and SUV's on the road require them.
We subsequently obtained a statement from the Ford dealer from whom we bought the vehicle, and several other documents and asked our attorneys to submit a plea of 'not guilty' and to defend the case.
The case was heard in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court on the 15th of August 2003 and the court accepted our submission and dismissed the charges.
Of course by refusing to submit to what we perceived as an unjust charge we incurred legal fees many times greater than the fine would have been.
As a sequel, one of our drivers was issued Ticket #3201920 on the 12th of December 2003 with the charge listed as 'No mudguards'. Our driver explained to the issuing officer that we had a similar charge against us in April 2003 and the Court had dismissed the charge. The reply was "Well, the Judge is not going to dismiss this charge".
We went to Court with our attorney and again the Judge dismissed the charge and again our legal fees were many times more than the fine.
We appreciate the thankless job the Traffic Police are doing to regulate and control traffic on our roads, but surely there are enough reckless and careless drivers, violators of traffic lights and stop signs, speeders, etc. to fill the coffers without fabrication.
I am, etc.,
GEORGE P. LECHLER. P.E.
P.O. Box 45
1 Hillview Avenue
Kingston 10
