Robert Hart, Parliamentary ReporterLEGISLATORS YESTERDAY moved closer to tightening the noose on illegal taxi operators with the passage by the Senate of legislation giving more powers to the Transport Authority.
The legislation, already passed in the House of Representatives, is particularly of moment because of the recent spate of fatal accidents involving illegal taxis.
"We know that certain of these amendments may seem, at first hand ... draconian," said Senator A.J. Nicholson, Deputy Leader of Government Business and Minister of Justice, in piloting the bill.
"We don't call them draconian; we say that they are matters that seek to preserve the lives of our people, particularly of our children," the Justice Minister stressed.
Senator Nicholson noted that it was recently reported that 16 children had been killed in traffic accidents since the start of the year. Many of those accidents, he said, involved illegal taxis.
Just over a week ago, three students from Innswood High School in St. Catherine were killed in an accident along the Old Harbour Road in the parish. Three other students and a 24-year-old illegal taxi operator received serious injuries and were admitted to hospital.
PENALTY INCREASES
The legislation provides for penalty increases from $10,000 to $150,000, and authorises the Transport Authority to seize any taxi being operated in breach of its category of licence, as well as any vehicle operating as a taxi without a licence.
But, despite agreeing with the new legislation in principle, the Opposition insisted yesterday that better procedures should have been followed and certain changes needed to be made to the bill.
Senator Anthony Johnson, Leader of Opposition Business, argued that, with 20,000 legal and 17,000 illegal taxis reportedly operating in the island, the Government should have sent the legislation to a Joint Select Committee of Parliament and allowed greater public participation before attempting to have it passed.
