THE EDITOR, Sir:
RECENTLY THERE was a Letter of the Day and also an editorial in your paper regarding the problems faced by a company relating to the Traffic Police. The ignorance of the police is not surprising as one needs to first understand the purpose of the traffic police and the purpose of the Jamaican Traffic Police.
In my opinion, the Jamaican Traffic Police are mainly revenue agents of the state and traffic court is, well, akin to the Constant Spring Tax Office.
The police are issuing tickets and essentially are daring the motorists to go to court to challenge them. The Managing Director did such and ended up paying more than the cost of the ticket if he had just paid the fine. So much for standing up for a principle.
I drive a pickup truck and have been stopped various times in spot checks; three times in one day between Mandeville and Kingston. One policeman even ran across the busy Spanish Town bypass to stop me and threaten to issue me a ticket for carrying my personal furniture in the back. I didn't care if he issued me a ticket because I am one of those, like the Managing Director of that company, who would have gone to court any amount of times to prove that this ticket was invalid. I raised a point that seemed to change his mind about issuing the ticket when I asked him if I bought a living room set at one of the popular furniture stores and was carrying it home, would he stop me and issue a ticket? At this point he said go on.
One can only wonder if there was an amendment to the law that would allow costs to be awarded to the defendant in traffic cases, would the police be so willing to issue tickets?
Also, one should visit the point of issuing tickets for driving a SUV with a private licence. I feel that once the vehicle has private plates, you can drive it with a private licence. But as usual, you need to have time, money and patience if you want to test this one through the court system.
I am, etc.,
MICHAEL DOUGLAS
mdouglas@cwjamaica.com
Kingston 9
Via Go-Jamaica
