Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 29/12/2025 04:17

Increased fines a good first step

On Christmas Day, the government delivered a very special present to the nation, Legal Notice No. 471 which doubles most of the applicable fines under the Ninth Schedule of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act. The new fines take effect from January 1, 2026. Driving without motor insurance has taken the biggest jump, from $1,000 to $10,000. The Opposition lost no time in reminding the Prime Minister that while in opposition, she decried traffic fines as too high and promised to reduce them. Road fatalities have risen steadily since 2023, when the count was 96, increasing to 117 in 2024 and again to 122 in 2024. Any drop in 2025 is only going to be incremental with the current count of road-related deaths at 108. This clearly called for decisive action, but one of the new government's first moves on taking office was the neutering of the demerit system in July 2025. It's unclear whether the increase in fines will be more effective in changing bad driving habits and auto maintenance regimes. Demerit points were introduced in March 2020 and after a review of the initial implementation, were adjusted in March 2022 to remove demerit penalties for some minor, non-moving violations. Despite having a system that allowed drivers to track the accumulation of demerits for poor road use, giving them a chance to adjust their behaviour over time, there were drivers who managed to collect enough points to have their driver's licenses suspended. Among them were taxi drivers who are often responsible for the lives of car loads of passengers. The increase in fines is definitely a harder punch in the face for errant drivers, and global assessment of fines for traffic violations suggests that increases of less than 100 per cent are less effective in changing driver behaviour. But this big change, sneaked in under the national radar without consultation, is also a form of revenue collection. Despite complaints about taxes in opposition, the incoming government has not been shy about raising taxes on sin-related pursuits, from alcohol consumption to smoking and gambling. Increasing the financial cost of dangerous driving is entirely in line with this new approach to behavioural taxation. The salute paid to Police Constable Keron Sankar in July for issuing 1,427 traffic tickets between January and June was an early warning that lawlessness on the road would be punished. Mrs Persad-Bissessar's government is not unique in this regard. In November 2019, the Transport Ministry announced that 120,000 fixed penalty tickets issued between 2011 and 2015 were unpaid, sent before the courts and ultimately clogging the court system. By 2020, the government extended the deadline and offered a 50 per cent discount on unpaid tickets. A greater commitment to enforcement and follow through must accompany the increase in fines to deliver a significant decrease in traffic violations and road fatalities. The post Increased fines a good first step appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.