Opposition spokesperson on transport, Michael Phillips, has questioned the effectiveness of a recent proposal by Transport Minister Daryl Vaz to retrain and recertify drivers in the public transport sector.

The proposed training programme aims to tackle the issue of indiscipline and speeding on the nation’s roadways. It will feature both online and in-person components before the drivers are certified.

In his announcement of the programme in recent weeks, Vaz stated that no one should be able to go to the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and get a public passenger vehicle (PPV) driver’s licence or a general driver’s licence to carry public passengers without certification from the Transport Authority.

However, Phillips expressed concerns over the policy decision and described the proposal as regulatory overkill, as the ITA is the sole body in Jamaica empowered to test and certify driver competence as well as vehicle competence.

“I think it is really overkill when it comes to regulation, and why I say that is because there is only one authority that deals with licensing and certification, which is the Island Traffic Authority. To say that the Transport Authority needs to step into the breach and do all of this, it’s going to take amendments to the legislation as it is now. The Transport Authority is a regulator, so they are not even set up to do what is being proposed. It is better to enact legislation that is already there if the Minister looks at the Road Traffic Act. The Road Traffic Act specifies that once an individual has reached a certain number of demerit points at the ITA, that person has breached the law itself, and there is a suspension of their driver’s licence, which the Road Traffic Act itself allows for,” Phillips said.

Meanwhile, Phillips noted that limiting the training and recertification exercise to only PPV operators is unfair and disingenuous.

“It is not only PPV operators that create traffic accidents; there are other drivers out there that contribute to this, so to pinpoint it to PPV is a little bit unfair and disingenuous in the proposal from the Minister,” he said.

To tackle the issue of indiscipline among motorists and reduce road fatalities, Phillips proposed that the government allocate a percentage of the annual revenue from traffic fines towards funding the Road Safety Unit and the National Road Safety Council’s (NRSC) public education campaigns.

He also highlighted the need for improvements in road infrastructure and consideration for the needs of vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.