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JAM | Dec 2, 2022

Traffic courts overwhelmed with outstanding tickets; night court to be implemented

Tamoy Ashman

Tamoy Ashman / Our Today

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Night courts are to be implemented as traffic courts across the island are facing an overwhelming number of motorists trying to pay their fines and plead their cases.

When motorists are issued a ticket, they are given 21 days to pay the fees. When the grace period is over, the matter is transferred to the courts and they will have to plead their cases before a judge.

According to Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck, there has been an overwhelming number of outstanding tickets that are clogging the court pipelines, resulting in Chief Justice Bryan Sykes requesting assistance.

“The chief justice has asked for help and the Ministry of Justice, with other ministries, will be giving him assistance so that he can have night courts and court on Saturdays,” Chuck said speaking to new justices of the peace at their commissioning ceremony in St Ann on Thursday (December 1).

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck.

Chuck also shared that the issue is islandwide and made note of things he said he has observed while visiting traffic courts across Jamaica.

“I was in [Montego Bay] over the weekend and there is a room full of outstanding tickets [for] drivers who have violated the road code and have not yet paid. I’ve been to a few other parish courts and the one especially in Kingston, where there are hundreds of thousands of tickets still unpaid by persons who have violated,” he shared.

There are currently over a million tickets that are being pursued by the court, stated Chuck, with more than 2,000 drivers having in excess of 100 tickets each.

A smart android device and portable printer that will be carried by traffic police in the Corporate Area to will facilitate the electronic issuance of traffic tickets, among other things.

He added that 70 per cent of cases that are filed in the court represent traffic tickets and this is a serious problem.

“The courts were never made to be a collection agency. The idea of the traffic courts was, when you get a ticket and you don’t think you should have gotten a ticket, you go to the court after 21 days and plead not guilty, because you are contesting the ticket,” the minister noted.

Motorists were then urged by Chuck to pay their tickets online before the 21 days so they do not burden the court.

Ministry officials cannot help you

Chuck further condemned the taxi and bus operators who issued an islandwide strike that saw citizens being stranded at bus stops.

The three-day strike last month was in an attempt to have the Government issue the operators a ticket amnesty, which would have allowed them to pay outstanding fees without consequences.

But, the Government stood strong in their stance that they will not issue an amnesty, warning operators that they would be severely punished if they continue to refuse to pay their fines.

Desperate for some leeway, the operators then proposed for the government to issue a payment plan. But, Chuck said the ministers and government cannot help them.

Taxi operators refusing to transport commuters during the recent islandwide bus and taxi strike.

“You want a payment plan? Get your lawyer to go and plead with the traffic court judge that ‘I know I owe so much money, I think can pay it off in such and such time’. Work it out inside the court,” he stressed.

According to the Jamaica Constitution, government officials cannot interfere with court proceedings, because they would be going above the rule of law.

“All you’re pleading to ministers, we have no authority to dictate to the court what is to be done. We would be interfering with the rule of law and the court system. It is a matter for the court,” he explained.

Chuck further urged motorist to quickly pay their traffic fines before the new regulations under the Road Traffic Act are implemented, adding that they might receive empathy from the court.

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