BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Traffic Department has announced that it would be taking steps to have towing introduced as a form of punishment for motorists who insist on breaching the Federation’s traffic laws.
Earlier this week, Head of the Traffic Department Inspector Cromwell Henry expressed that he was displeased with the behaviour of some motorists during the 2009/2010 Carnival Season’s street festivities. He explained that despite the issuance of correspondence outlining parking prohibitions in the Basseterre area, some motorists persisted in parking in restricted areas.
During a more recent interview with SKNVibes, Inspector Henry explained that this sort of legislation is “necessary” in light of motorists’ continued non-compliance with traffic rules and regulations.
“We are at the point now where if drivers cannot comply with parking restrictions on their own accord, then we will have to take measure to ensure that they are not parked in areas where they ought not to and ticketing is not a sufficiently strong measure to prevent this type of breach.”
He noted that such legislation is of further necessity in light of the Federation’s stage of development.
“We have reached the point in our development when that type of traffic law enforcement is necessary. The country hosts a number of major events which require strict traffic management. Some must meet international standards, and having drivers flaunt the parking restrictions only increases the safety and security risk to the event and puts the country in a bad light.
“During World Cup Cricket in 2007, there were provisions for the towing of illegally parked vehicles in the restricted zones in the legislation that was specifically created for the World Cup Cricket. We will be making recommendations for those provisions to be permanently placed in our traffic laws.”
The Traffic Head promised that he would make recommendations to the Licensing Authority (Commissioner of Police), who would then forward them to the Legal Department.
“So, I cannot give a timeline as to when such legislation would be effected because, of course, it has to go through a process.”
Inspector Henry however expressed that he is hopeful of the process being completed during the course of 2010.
