Senior Reporter
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Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander says the introduction of an increase in fines for traffic offences is not intended to punish drivers for simply “existing”, insisting it is part of the Government’s efforts to clamp down on errant drivers on a sustained basis.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Alexander said, like any policy with emphasis on public safety and security, the feelings and views of those directly affected were considered, including the relatives of people who died in car accidents and survivors of collisions themselves.
He, therefore, urged the public to consider the views of these people before criticising the Government’s decision, as he argued it had the potential to save lives.
“This is not about slapping things on you because you exist; I want to emphasise it’s for offences committed.”
Alexander said he felt that too many careless drivers have been “getting away” with their poor decisions without facing appropriate consequences.
He said there was a need to take a firm stance against reckless driving and that those critical of the new penalties may themselves benefit from it, with safer roads.
Referring to more serious categories of crime, Alexander said he felt that people would be more inclined to break the law if there was a possibility that they could escape.
When asked what the enforcement strategy would be in ensuring compliance with the law, Alexander said it would involve a combination of observation from police, licensing officers, traffic wardens and technology.
“Both human resources, through observation and technology, are going to be used.
“So we’re looking at manpower and resources where we can identify certain things, put things in certain places. We intend to go all the way to save our citizens.”
When contacted for comment yesterday, ACP Specialised Support Brian Soodeen said while an increase in manpower to coordinate and execute roadblocks and detect traffic offences would be appreciated, there are no clear plans to deploy increased numbers of police officers on a sustained basis to support an increase in traffic fines.
Soodeen, who has direct supervision over the Traffic and Highway Patrol branch, said even with the increase in penalties for traffic offences, police officers will continue to conduct roadblocks and traffic exercises as usual.
“We always look for an increase ... Anytime we can get an increase in strength, we will increase our exercises during the holiday period because there’s a higher volume of traffic on the roadways, for instance, for Old Year’s Night.” He, however, added that the exercises were due to high volumes of traffic and not because of increases in penalties.
“It doesn’t matter what the penalty is; it’s about being out there and being present on the roadways.”
Weighing in on the decision to increase the fines for traffic offences, criminologist Dr Randy Seepersad said while he was not necessarily opposed to higher penalties for careless driving, he questioned whether human and technical resources were being utilised fully to enforce these crimes.
“The issue we keep facing in the criminal justice system is we push the severity level up, but we don’t make any headway with respect to the certainty aspect of punishment ... meaning that the certainty of punishment remains low.
“To make those penalties effective, what we have to do is couple that with better detection rates ... we have infrastructure that is not adequately used, for instance, CCTV cameras we see at traffic lights. We know people will break traffic lights, they will break stop signs, they will drink and drive, and they tend to go unabated simply because the detection of offences remains very, very low.”
