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  • 11 months ago

Over 14,000 motorists reached the Demerit Points limit as at 2023.
This was revealed at a Joint Select Committee which sat to examine the system.
The Ministry of Works and Transport is considering a rehabilitation exercise which will give motorists a one-off chance to stay on the road.
Alicia Boucher tells us more.

Transcript
00:00The statistics are staggering in relation to drivers who have been issued notices over
00:05the last three years for reaching or exceeding the limit of the merit points on their permits.
00:10Joint Select Committee Chairman Deirut Timal gives insight into it based on a submission
00:16the JSC received.
00:17In 2020, we had 1,305, 2021, 6,937, 2022, 10,278, and 2023, 14,281.
00:38It's on average 4,000 drivers added per year.
00:41Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport, Sonia Francis-Yearwood says
00:45a rehabilitation initiative is on the cards, as sometimes people's bread and butter are
00:51impacted.
00:52It is a pause to understand that I am about to lose my license, I now do a rehabilitative
00:58exercise and there is a reduction.
01:01If it is, you, after that, you come right back up again, there is no, so it's a one-time
01:09offer.
01:10And this one-time offer is to actually bring the points down as well?
01:17Yes.
01:18She says a warning system is another avenue being considered for certain offences.
01:23The warnings will be entered into the devices allowing police and licensing officers to
01:28track whether a motorist was warned before the issuance of tickets and demerit points.
01:33According to Senior Legal Officer in the Transport Ministry, Ayanna Humphrey, demerit points accumulated
01:39on a permit within a three-year period are looked at for disqualification.
01:44So that after that three-year period, the demerit points are not counted towards disqualification.
01:51If you accumulate demerit points and then for a period of two continuous years you do
01:58not accumulate any additional demerit points, those points are expunged from your record.
02:05The number of drivers who are not responding to the issuance of fixed penalty tickets and
02:10cannot be located has also increased from 14,988 in 2021 to 23,111 in 2023.
02:21Based on the information you have given, it's about 75% of persons do not respond.
02:29The ministry states that a future plan is to have online payments, but for now, expanding
02:34the provider, which is CT Post, can be another option, as outlined by Transport Commissioner
02:40Clive Clark.
02:41We could consider having the pay be the ministry or the entity, and the law allows for that.
02:47And it's something I, as Commissioner, have been in recent discussions with the legal
02:52so we could probably put forward recommendations.
02:54Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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