00:00I want to imagine, I'm not sure if the strategy is to treat with crime or if to treat with
00:05the vehicles on the road and their condition or to gather money for the Ministry of Works
00:12and Transport.
00:13Whichever it is, I do not know that it is being conducted in a manner that is humane
00:20or that is in the best interest of the island or even the human beings that are driving
00:25around.
00:26Ms. Haddad said roadblocks by police and licensing officers are haphazard, coupled
00:33with hostile officers in the day and at night.
00:37Throughout the island, there are just these roadblocks popping up everywhere.
00:41So you can be in three or four roadblocks in one day.
00:46And that has to do with the fact that they start in the morning and they just come down
00:49to the corners of residential areas, the main roads, whatever.
00:53But there are many things about it that's not sitting well.
00:57Number one, our police wear green, the green jackets, just like the people who are cutting
01:04the grass on the road, just like the man who comes with the walker in your yard.
01:08So you are coming down the road and you're really not sure what you're seeing at the
01:11junction.
01:12And then you drive into this and the approach that they are treating with people seems to
01:20be very hostile in many instances.
01:24And then the actual behavior of how they are carrying on on the street.
01:27She added, businesses in Tobago are suffering under the hands of licensing officers operations.
01:34Workers are finding it hard to get transportation to and from work.
01:39The Ministry of Works and Transport slash DTHA has a responsibility, Marla, to ensure
01:45that our roads are in drivable order.
01:50You drive, you duck one pothole, you drop in the next one, right?
01:55As you come out of that one, you're facing something else.
01:58The edges of the streets are broken, the drains are not in order, the pavements are not in
02:03order.
02:04So what is all of this about?
02:06What is the Ministry of Works and Transport trying to achieve?
02:09Is it them working with the police or is it the police working with them for crime?
02:14What is it?
02:15We don't know.
02:16But it's very frustrating.
02:17Business is dead.
02:19Hadad then described her own experience.
02:49I was probably going to hit somebody that was parked there.
02:53So for them to pass.
02:54By the time they pass, within a couple of seconds, I'm driving off again, going out
03:00behind you.
03:01So I'm pulling out to Richard Sadler driveway, and they were closed, Fangor again, because
03:05I'm sure I was going to be into somebody again.
03:08And they all just circle at the corner of Milford Road, going to the Coast Guard, block
03:13the entire road, and they are setting up a roadblock now.
03:16And that's the format from them moving from one junction to the next.
03:21She called out the Ministry of Transport on the inspection stations dilemma in Tobago.
03:27We have one station, Sylvester's in Canby, but that only opens from 8 to 11, Monday to
03:35Friday, because the gentleman, I understand, is also a PTSD driver, so he goes to work
03:40after.
03:41It takes three hours to get your vehicle inspected, so let's cut down that time.
03:47The station that was in country is shut down.
03:51The other place that's doing inspection for small vehicles is BEMCOT.
03:55They cannot do 202 vehicles a day, right?
03:58And the other place that we now have to go with our vehicles, trucks, heavy trucks, heavy
04:04vehicles, is that the old licensing authority building, and the gentleman there who is doing
04:11the inspection also is the gentleman who is doing driving tests for persons who are
04:16doing the driving test.
04:18Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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