New Trinidad Traffic Fines + Demerit + Fixed Penalty System

[killercow]

L.O. seems to be cracking down on lifted offroad styled pickups, deeming the mods "unauthorized". One guy got braced and let off with a warning, another had his inspection sticker revoked

They can revoke an inspection sticker entirely? I mean obviously they can charge you for an offense based on vehicle condition/ modification but didn’t know they could revoke your entire inspection on the road.

Someone could go for inspection in December as stock and put in a lift kit in January not so ?

Police has monitoring with routine questions such as physical description going on for years now

How do you revoke a inspection though ? That’s my question. You can be inspected but still get charged for the particular offence. Revoking of inspection I’m not familiar with

I've heard stories where truck men get stopped in LO roadblock and had their inspection certificate seized and be mandated that they proceed to licensing office immediately / the next day.
Iirc, apparently not so long ago there was a change in the paper used to issue inspection certificates and apparently the backdoor ppl didn't get the memo or something. Rell men geh brace for 'fraudulent' paper work.

[sMASH]

Question
If the passenger in the front seat is over 18 and not wearing the seatbelt who gets the ticket, the driver or passenger?
What does the law state about this ?

Both can and the machine caters for the offender to be given a ticket even without a dp

So who decides who gets the ticket ?

prolly rs can clarify better, but how i read it, the passenger gets ticketed for not wearing a seat belt and the driver gets a ticket for driving with a passenger without seat belt.
if the person is underage, its the responsibility of the driver to ensure they are buckled.

[The_Honourable]

1,000 to lose driver’s permits

Warning for road users with new Demerit Points System...

Six months after amendments to the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Act 2017 allowing for a new Demerit Points System came into effect, 68 people have been disqualified from driving and almost 1,000 more are about to have their driver’s permits taken away.

Road safety co-ordinator at the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Brent Batson disclosed the statistics in an interview with the Express yesterday.

He said the numbers were alarming and warned drivers of the consequences that came with breaking the law.

Batson said drivers have been disqualified for offences such as not wearing seatbelts and driving over the speed limit.

He said this was occurring throughout the country, particularly with private car drivers.

He said: “Persons have to understand the amendment to the Road Traffic Act. The driving permit is not some sort of constitutional right. It can be taken from you if you break the law. Drivers have a misconception that if they pay their tickets, they won’t get any points. It does not work that way. Your points stay with you.”

He added that once a driver accumulates ten or more demerit points, he or she will automatically be disqualified from driving for a period of time and required to surrender his or her driver’s licence.

Failure to comply is an additional offence, and the Transport Commissioner will then issue a summons to the driver.

If someone continues to ope­rate a vehicle after they have been disqualified, they can be arrested on the spot, Batson said.

He said a special unit has also been set up to ensure drivers are notified when their demerit points have surpassed the lawful limit, and there are also new devices to detect when a person is driving with a disqualified driver’s permit.

Additionally, he said the Demerit Points System is public record, and drivers need to keep this in mind because insurance companies and employers can have access to these records once a driver is fined.

He said: “They need to wake up and understand it’s a totally different system now. It stays on your record. If you are disqualified, you also have no insurance and the risk becomes multiplied because if you get into an accident, you have no coverage.”

Batson recommended that insur­ance companies do their due diligence and ensure they check clients’ records.

He noted the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Act also contained a licence sanction.

Batson said this feature disqua­lifies drivers who do not pay their fines from being able to have their vehicles inspected or have a vehicle transferred to their name.

86 died on the roads this year

Batson told the Express that many of the road fatalities this year could have been avoided.

Commenting on three road deaths in recent days, he said: “We are saddened, from the TTPS standpoint, as our role involves injury prevention. However, these accidents were avoidable. It probably involved speeding, and for the pedestrian who ran across the highway, where the speed limit is 100, that’s unsurvivable.”

He was referring to the man who was struck down while crossing the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway in Aranjuez near the walkover on Monday night.

Another pedestrian, a fire officer, standing outside his home, was also killed on Monday when a truck lost control and ran off the road.

A motorist also died the same day when his vehicle spun out of control along the Toco Main Road and crashed into an embankment on the western side of the road.

For the year so far, Batson said there have been 86 road fatalities, compared to 115 for the same period last year.

He said there will be a zero-tole­rance policy in effect during the Christmas season.

He added: “Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has instructed all commanders to ensure national road police operations across the country, focusing on driving under the influence enforcement, dange­rous speeding, and persons not wearing a seat belt.”

He also urged drivers to be prepared to present proper documentation, including a valid driver’s permit and insurance certificate, as there will be increased road checks.

He also said a driver can be ticketed if the person sitting in their front passenger seat does not have on a seat belt.

The Trinidad and Tobago Municipal Police Service (TTMPS), Tran­sit Police, Licensing Division officials and traffic wardens will also assist the TTPS, he added.

The top five road traffic offences that caused drivers to be disqualified were:

1. Driving without wearing a seatbelt

2. Driving over the speed limit

3. Use of mobile devices while driving

4. Breach of road traffic signs

5. Driving without a valid dri­ver’s permit

The Demerit Points System

According to the Ministry of Works and Transport, under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Ch 48:50, the introduction of the Demerit Points System is used to track the behaviour of drivers by the allocation of points to their dri­ving records for the commission of certain traffic violations and offen­ces.

A person can accumulate deme­rit points on their driving permit record for the breach of certain traffic violations and offences, which carry demerit points.

The system is managed through an electronic demerit points register on the U-Turn software management system.

Drivers with ten to 13 points will have their permits disqualified for a period of six months. Drivers with 14-20 points will have their permits disqualified for a period of one year.

Source: https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/ ... 369ab.html

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Permit suspended: Driver challenges demerit point system

An Arouca man whose driver’s permit was suspended for six months after he allegedly racked up ten points has mounted a legal challenge to the new traffic laws' demerit point system.

However, the judge presiding over Zachary De Silva’s lawsuit has asked for the Attorney General to be served with the proceedings, since he said there were issues with the law which require clarification.

At a virtual hearing on Wednesday, Justice Frank Seepersad said there appeared to be a lack of legislative clarity in the amendment to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act on the process to be engaged when challenging a disqualification or suspension.

He said he had some difficulty in accepting it was Parliament’s intention for the Supreme Court to review all the decisions of the transport commissioner to disqualify or suspend a driver.

Apart from that concern, Seepersad said the legislation gives the impression that the decision of a summary court was final, which was also troubling.

“I cannot think of any circumstance where a magistrate makes finding and a decision is binding, given that magistrates are creatures of statute and have no inherent jurisdiction,” he said.

Seepersad has directed that the matter is to be served on the Attorney General, since the issue raised could possibly have an impact on thousands of citizens since the demerit point system took effect in late May 2020.

“There is a need to have clarity on the way forward on how the legislative intent is to unfold on the issue of forum and process,” he said, as he adjourned the matter to January 20.

De Silva received a fixed-date penalty notice sometime in May 2020 for driving with a cell phone. He received two more tickets in July and September for breaching a traffic sign and because his front-seat passenger was not wearing a seatbelt.

He paid the penalties and thought as a result, he would not get demerit points. He was told that he had accumulated ten demerit points, and of the intention to suspend his permit, and was invited to respond. He did so within the statutory period under the legislation.

However, De Silva's attorney Devvon Williams said his client was then told his permit was suspended, when the legislation gave the transport commissioner a discretion to do so, but did not mandate that he does. De Silva's lawsuit said apart from the decision being harsh, oppressive and disproportionate, it also failed to provide reasons.

http://newsday.co.tt/2021/01/06/permit- ... nt-system/

[sMASH]

police drive without seatbelts and talk on the fone all the time. those are not hazards, otherwise u would see more accidents caused by police not wearing seatbelts and talking while driving.

[zoom rader]

police drive without seatbelts and talk on the fone all the time. those are not hazards, otherwise u would see more accidents caused by police not wearing seatbelts and talking while driving.

Record and post on social media and send to the red government media houses to highlight .

[hustla_ambition101]

police drive without seatbelts and talk on the fone all the time. those are not hazards, otherwise u would see more accidents caused by police not wearing seatbelts and talking while driving.

Buy a dictionary and look up the word exemption rather than making an ass of yourself on social media

[sMASH]

They exempted from The laws of physics too?

[Kenjo]

police drive without seatbelts and talk on the fone all the time. those are not hazards, otherwise u would see more accidents caused by police not wearing seatbelts and talking while driving.

Buy a dictionary and look up the word exemption rather than making an ass of yourself on social media

Lol

[j.o.e]

police drive without seatbelts and talk on the fone all the time. those are not hazards, otherwise u would see more accidents caused by police not wearing seatbelts and talking while driving.

The way men does whine over police exemptions is best they sign up to enroll in the TTPS. Police are required to use wireless communication devices (walkie talkie) in their operations, based on that they might was well be exempted and yes that includes cellphones.
Seatbelts are optional for officers as in their duty they may need to access weapon or leave vehicle quickly.
Both are written in the LAW ...... stop toting and do what you are required to do by the law.

[sMASH]

I don't want that people be allowed to not wear seatbelts or tsk on fone.

I want that police wear that seat belt, to save their own lives, cause judging from their damaged vehicles, they get into a lot of accidents.
I don't want peple to talk on fones, I want police to STOP talking on fones cause nuff if them drive like idiots while they chatting.... Just like everyone else.


The exemption they have doesn't make them better than doing it than any other human.

[pugboy]

gg say last week ttps was crashing and writing off a vehicle every 2 weeks or something like that
so them officers need to wear their seatbelt

dont want an officer suing us the taxpayers when he get serious injuries on the job
we dun paying a few hundred of them who on suspension for years

[j.o.e]

A officer is free to wear seatbelts and many do. They just can’t be charged if they don’t

[zoom rader]

A officer is free to wear seatbelts and many do. They just can’t be charged if they don’t

If that is the case then they must set an example in wearing the belts.

They out of all people must set the example and don't let folk point them out.

[daring dragoon]

why is here no points or charge with regards to failure to use indicator when switching lanes on highway or stopping or turning on other roads. it have drivers out here that feel the man behind is a friggin mind reader or they just dont dam care.

[matr1x]

Busy to demerit, but slow to fix roads

[daring dragoon]

A officer is free to wear seatbelts and many do. They just can’t be charged if they don’t

If that is the case then they must set an example in wearing the belts.

They out of all people must set the example and don't let folk point them out.

many of them personal vehicles have 5% tint all around also. just watch in any police station and see they parking their personal vehicle inside the station and many of them heavily tinted. they also park police vehicle inside the station and infront the station is no parking signs, so where a member of the public suppose to stop if they come to do business in the police station. back in the day a police station parking was for police vehicles and travelling officer only and a public parking area, officers could not park their own personal vehicle inside the station. now police dont want to see you, hear you, deal with you, all in all "doh bodder them"

[aaron17]

why is here no points or charge with regards to failure to use indicator when switching lanes on highway or stopping or turning on other roads. it have drivers out here that feel the man behind is a friggin mind reader or they just dont dam care.

And what about the ppl who does use indicator but still drive straight and don't turn in?

[Ben_spanna]

i would love to see licensing officers conducting inspections at all police stations and make them remove illegal tint on those officers personal cars ..... right then and there.

[rollingstock]

Hear these sour grapes.

Good thing I have a tint exemption. Going and put 5% on my side mirrors and rear view mirror so I don't have to see you all salty arses

[DMan7]

why is here no points or charge with regards to failure to use indicator when switching lanes on highway or stopping or turning on other roads. it have drivers out here that feel the man behind is a friggin mind reader or they just dont dam care.

And what about the ppl who does use indicator but still drive straight and don't turn in?

People don't use indicators anymore and if they do they don't turn it, I nearly got into an accident with a maxi who had his indicator on as if we was turning into the lane and I was pushing out knowing he was going into the lane I coming out of and he went straight on instead. Good thing I don't trust these vehicles on the road anymore else someone else would've definitely driven out and got hit.

[killercow]

[sMASH]

srs? that is over doing it... again..

[hindian]

3 demerit points for that? I understand the price but come on man!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

T&T 2021 Traffic Ticketing System explained

[aidan]

Nahh man. 3 demerit points for that

[nick639v2]

Is the demerit points for tint, licensed plate etc fixed? Or is it Fine and/or demerit by the officer's discretion?

[hustla_ambition101]

Is the demerit points for tint, licensed plate etc fixed? Or is it Fine and/or demerit by the officer's discretion?

Demerit points are fixed, only the minister can make modifications to the system if he sees fit.

[daring dragoon]

Is the demerit points for tint, licensed plate etc fixed? Or is it Fine and/or demerit by the officer's discretion?

Demerit points are fixed, only the minister can make modifications to the system if he sees fit.

but criminals getting out on bail or not even being arrested... vision 2020 or 2030 or vision backward.? just collect money from poor people. so who is the bigger criminals ?

[hustla_ambition101]

Just obey the laws and it wont bean issue.....simple