A thread on what you need to know about Jamaica's "new" Road Traffic Act (2018). It was first presented as a Bill in Parliament in 2014. From back then, there was a provision that motorists with unpaid fines would not be able to renew their vehicle registration.

It came back again in 2015/2016 but wasn't passed. Not sure why. Finally, it was passed on December 31, 2018, but the regulations weren't drafted yet, so the Act, in its entirety, is not yet in force. Oddly, a portion of the 2018 Act was brought into operation.

The section in the 2018 law that recreated the Island Traffic Authority is in effect but the rest of the Act is not. The 1938 Act is not repealed. That Act ALSO created the Island Traffic Authority. The result? We have 2 operational provisions that establish the same entity.

I've never seen anything like this - an Act is passed but isn't in force except for 3 sections out of it - but I've only been practising for approx. 17 years, so who knows.

We were told over a year ago that the reason the 2018 Act is not in force is because the regulations aren't ready. BUT - there were regulations passed in April 2019. Guess what for?
Uniforms for conductors and drivers.
That is what they're spending time doing.

In the meanwhile, the 1938 Act & the traffic fines included in it are not being updated. The last increase in fines appears to be in 2005. But that's suspicious because I recall being fined for a little speeding and being charged thousands of $ instead of J$800 as per the law.

So I go on the Ministry of Transport website and guess what I found? A page that says "New Road Traffic Act" and there's a link to copy of the 2014 Road Traffic Bill that was never passed by parliament.
https://www.mtw.gov.jm/roadsafety/images/The_Road_Traffic_Act_2014.pdf

If anyone has been fined under the 2014 Bill...the government could owe them some money (assuming they even paid the fine which is a big assumption given what we know)...anyway, that's an aside, the real point is this:

Time come for the Road Traffic Act!
To illustrate the impact - the max fine for speeding under the 1938 Act is J$2k, under the 2014 Bill it's $15K but under the 2018 Act, it's J$45k or 30 days in prison.
We need this now!