Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Writer
More than 50,000 warrants are out for elusive motorists who have been ticketed in Kingston and St. Andrew alone, according to information out of the Police Traffic Division.
However, up to press time, the police were unable to say what the islandwide figure is.
Deputy Superintendent (DSP) Byron Powell of the Kingston and St. Andrew Traffic Headquarters said speeding was the most common traffic offence. He explained that tickets for offences range from a low of $5,000 to a high of $30,000.
Using the offence of speeding alone, the cost of outstanding traffic tickets in the Corporate Area is $400 million.
"This is an issue because the police are unable to locate persons who submit incorrect home addresses when applying for (driver's) licences or have simply moved to different locations without informing the concerned authorities," DSP Powell said.
Main culprits
He added, "The main culprits of traffic offences are persons operating in the transport industry." DSP Powell explained that a mixture of persons operating public or private transport vehicles commit 80 per cent of traffic breaches.
In 2003, the Police Traffic Division extended an amnesty after there was a reported pileup
of outstanding warrants for arrests resulting from unpaid tickets. Then, 224 warrants were executed and 528 traffic tickets were cleared up. Regarding the indifferent response to the amnesty, DSP Powell expressed the view that persons were uncertain about how the police would have actually treated them.
He is again urging persons with outstanding tickets to contact the Traffic Department. While he said this latest appeal should not be mistaken for an amnesty, he guaranteed that by checking with the Traffic Division voluntarily, persons would have their cases dealt with amicably.
However, he warned, "Persons caught by the police during spot checks will have no such luck. Their vehicles will be taken for safe keeping and they will be arrested and escorted to court immediately, whether or not it is at their convenience."
