By Faith Edwards
PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says her government has officially scrapped the controversial demerit points system, citing a lack of evidence that it improved road safety.
Speaking at the Post Cabinet media briefing held at the Red House in Port of Spain on Thursday, Persad -Bissessar said, “I see some persons are not too happy with that, but again, we campaigned on scrapping the demerit system, we got the mandate, so we will proceed with the mandate we were given”
She said the system, originally meant to penalise drivers with points on their licence in addition to fines, amounts to double jeopardy. She described this as “offensive to the whole system of justice.”
Persad-Bissessar added that once a person is found guilty in a court of law and pays the fine, imposing further penalties such as licence suspension due to accumulated demerit points is unjust and places citizens’ livelihoods at risk.
She noted that her government found “no evidence that the demerit system reduced road traffic incidents.” She said the evidence pointed in the opposite direction.
She said, “If you have evidence to tell me the demerit system helped in road safety, I will welcome it but thus far we have found no evidence that the demerit system reduced the road traffic incidents, or persons on the road, the accidents and so on, we have found no evidence. In fact, the evidence thus far is to the contrary.”
She added that alternative measures would be explored to enhance road safety but maintained that the demerit points system was legally and practically flawed.
“Yes, we’ll find other ways to improve road safety for citizens,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Persad-Bissessar made the announcement to scrap the demerit while speaking at her first Post-Cabinet media briefing held at the Red House in Port of Spain, since being elected Prime Minister.
The demerit system was introduced as a law in 2020 by the former Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan.
A system used to track and improve driver behaviour by assigning points to drivers’ records for certain traffic violations and offences. The system was aimed to enhance road safety, reduce accidents and fatalities, and detect repeat offenders.
