Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Paula Fletcher (left) and Ealan Powell (right)

AFTER MONTHS of keeping the matter close to the chest, road safety advocate Paula Fletcher can hold it no longer.

Mrs. Fletcher, the executive director of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), a state agency, disclosed recently that the $50 million ticketing system implemented two years ago with a view to prosecuting delinquent motorists, has failed.

"With a ticketing system, you must have your database working.

"If you don't have information on who has been issued a ticket and how many tickets that person has, you can't have the penalties being enforced," Mrs. Fletcher argued during an Editors' Forum held at The Gleaner Company's central Kingston office on Thursday.

Mrs. Fletcher added that people have taken the government to court for recourse because the system fails to work.

Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of traffic, Ealan Powell, reported that the police have serious constraints in the execution of their duties related to issuing traffic tickets. He has, however, pledged to do their best with the existing resources.

Ailing programmes

Meanwhile, it is not just the ticketing system that has not worked.

Mrs. Fletcher said the breathalyser programme, implemented to minimise incidence of drunk driving, was ailing.

"The programme is not working because the instruments are defective and need to be replaced," she complained.

She is advocating amendments to the Spirit Licence Act, which she believes will reduce drunk driving, especially among young partygoers who drive miles to consume liquor and listen to music.

The NRSC head has also called for increased professional conduct in the way the island traffic Authority is operated.

Basing her statements on a recent Pan American Health Organisation study which found that nearly 71 per cent of male drivers in Jamaica sampled had not done the appropriate driver's test, she says the authorities need to find a way to reduce corrupt practices such as the certification of unfit motor vehicles and the selling of drivers licences.

Organisation needed

"We need to look seriously at the way we train our drivers and how we certify cars to drive on the road," she said.

Mrs. Fletcher also called for investment in electronic surveillance systems. She stated that the NRSC has proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Act. These proposals aim to address the way pedestrians and cyclists use highways.

Also included in the proposed legislation is a move to remove dark tints from vehicles, setting a standard for tyres, and a recommendation to control the use of cellular phones while driving.