By Prior Beharry
LICENSING officers are creating major inconvenience to people.
This according to to political leader of the Progressive Empowerment Party Phillip Edward Alexander in a Facebook post earlier this week.
He said licensing officers create major inconvenience and waste people’s time when they make checks on the road.
But Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke says while the checks may be disruptive they save lives.
Alexander said, “The sheer folly of wasting everybody’s time so you can write a few tickets is mind bogglingly stupid.
“Children miss classes. Important appointments are lost.
“Millions in productivity down the drain.”
He asked why licensing officers are not deployed at gas stations.
Alexander added, “The errant ones will come to you eventually or they will have to come off the road.”
Speaking to AZP News on Saturday, Alexander said, “On Friday the Licensing Office doubled down and cost the country in millions of dollars in lost man hours for hundreds of dollars in tickets.”
He said, “We cannot have a country being held to ransom by officer holders who work for us.”
Contacted for comment on Saturday, Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke said that transport officers have a responsibility to ensure there is compliance with the transport laws of Trinidad and Tobago.
He said transport officers ensure that motorists have their proper documents such as insurance and that they don’t drive with smooth tyres or defetctive vehicles, for example.
Clarke said what they do will save lives and the country must recognise that there was a high road fatality rate last year.
He said, “We are saying that there are many mechanisms to fixing that problem. One of those things is to ensure that persons comply with what is required in terms of owning a vehicle and having possession of a driver’s permit.”
Clarke said, “In conducting a road exercise you would find a level of inconvenience but you must look at the greater good – what we are doing basically, is saving lives. We are ensuring that persons are eligible to drive on the roads. So a little inconvenience and saving lives. I would choose the side of life saving.”
He added that they have discovered from the exercises people who have been disqualified from driving by the court for DUI offences and still driving on the nation’s roads.
And to the suggestion by Alexander that transport officers target gas stations, Clarke said a gas station may not necessary be on the public roads and a transport officer may have to wait until the driver is in his car and comes out of the gas station to check him.
He said while they conduct exercises there are times when the transport officers allow the free flow of traffic.
Clarke said, “You need to understand though while we allow the free flow of traffic, you may be letting a number of offences get by.”
We really need a change in Government because we don’t have real poliy makers
The ignorance of this gentleman is spewing from him. Roadblocks may catch 1 in 20 but if they focused in house at the bribery that goes on in tbeir compounds by their officers, they would solve a lot of issues. If they would put a plan to get mobile patrols they could charge vehicles that are on the road with much less stress put on the law abiding citizens that traverse our delabitated roads. If theybwere to get their staff to do their 8 hours of actual work per day maybe then maybe we would not be in this mess.
With the use technology Licensing Authority (LA) can have
1.Insurances renewed with up to date Inspection
2 insurances when renewed must update LA database
4. Road blocks can be set up on the Exit lanes on the
Highway.
5.How first world countries don’t use Road blocks
If safety was ever a concern, the the roads would never have been allowed to deteriorate as they have in the past few years. So save the BS for your bosses mister commissioner.
The thing is that the important part is revenue collection, so they must catch u on dvtoadway, for the ticket ti be valid. If the important part was fixing the issues, the gas station idea would work.
Like how they tried the mall car park. But its all about revenue collection .
Correct