To step up on nighttime patrols for 2012
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts –THE Traffic Department of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force is advising that it will be increasing its patrols for 2012, and has already had its first operation for the year which resulted in more than 40 individuals being ticketed.
The exercise was held on Monday (Jan. 16) evening, when two Vehicle Check Points (VCPs) were formed, one at St. Johnston’s Village and the other along the F. T. Williams Highway.
SGT Calvin Amory of that Department told this publication that during the operation – which was conducted jointly with the Delta Squad – 150 vehicles were stopped and checked and 42 tickets were distributed to traffic-law violators.
Eight were issued to persons who did not have lights on their vehicle to illuminate their rear number plate, 19 were issued to persons who were driving vehicles which had only one lighted headlamp, eight to persons who drive vehicles which were fitted with unauthorised lights, five to individuals who were not wearing their seatbelts and two to those persons whose vehicles bore no registration plate.
Additionally, one motorbus was taken into police custody for not bearing any registration plate.
SGT Amory indicated that the Department has resolved to increase its presence on the Federation’s road network during this year, in an attempt to further promote road safety.
In 2011, close to 3000 tickets were issued by the Traffic Department to motorists who were in contravention of the Federation’s Traffic Laws.
And according to Department Head, Inspector Cromwell Henry, 876 were issued for failing to comply with traffic signs and 579 for driving without seatbelts – most of which were distributed during the first part of the year.
A total of 286 tickets were issued to motorists who were caught driving unlicensed vehicles, 201 for inappropriate tinting, 137 for driving while using a mobile phone, 149 for exceeding the speed limit and 102 to motor omnibus operators who were caught driving off the bus route.
He also informed that 70 tickets were issued to those motorists who were operating vehicles which bore only one headlamp and 10 to those who drove vehicles which had unauthorised lights.
All the stated offences carry a fine of $100 - $250.
An analysis of these statistics, Henry noted, reveals that the majority of the tickets were issued for “daytime” offences which suggests that “we need to do more operations in the night.
“The complaints we have been receiving and what we have been seeing with the statistics indicated that we need to do more. We were concentrating our efforts more on daytime offences. And while we will not neglect the daytime exercises, we will try and balance it and will be out more in the evening, hence our actions earlier this week where we issued over 40 tickets in a couple of hours. We intend to continue doing that.”
The Traffic Department – as informed by the Inspector – has been accused of having revenue generation as its primary goal. In seeking to set the record clear, he explained, however, that that is a spinoff of their job and firmly indicated that road safety is their primary objective.
“We take the opportunity to ask drivers to check their vehicles at night to ensure that their lamps are in proper working order. Our intention is not to make money for the Treasury. Our intention is to ensure the roads are safe.
"Our main focus is safety and not revenue as we are accused of by drivers. The bottom line is, if your lights are not working, you pose a safety risk on the road and if you insist on committing that infraction, you would have to penalized.
“And imagine a driver paying a $100 fine for a lighting offence when a bulb costs $10 or less.”
