CrimeLocal News Installed on roads, EVR now awaits law to activate them by Emmanuel Joseph 29/05/2024 written by Emmanuel Joseph Updated by Barbados Today 29/05/2024 4 min read A+A- Reset Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Works Andrew Gittens. Share FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 2.4K A new law will soon be in place to monitor registered vehicles on the roads, Ministry of Transport Permanent Secretary Andrew Gittens disclosed on Tuesday. The draft legislation is now being reviewed by the ministry to provide the legal framework required to usher in the long-awaited Electronic Vehicle Registration (EVR) monitoring, surveillance and tagging system that’s expected to be rolled out this year. “Even if it were totally finished, you would have to have the legislation in place,” Gittens told Barbados TODAY. “We were tagging some vehicles as government, but you have to get the legal basis to do it, to make it mandatory obviously. So that legislatio0n is drafted and it is being reviewed and refined just to make sure it is in place.” “But then,” the permanent secretary added, “there are also the other technical issues. We are working on rolling it out, but the legislation to give it the legal basis for the EVR has been drafted, is being reviewed, and shortly the ministry expects we would have something for Cabinet to sign off on” The top public servant anticipates the legislation should be laid in Parliament before the end of the year. “The fact that Cabinet has agreed that we should draft it, as long as there is no issue with it… because it is a priority really going forward. It is a priority for ministry… we would be able to… given the need to tag… monitor who is on the vehicle and how it is being used.” Closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras will form part of the EVR system to assist police in tracking drivers who flout traffic laws, Gittens said, adding that video surveillance would facilitate a more effective and efficiently functioning demerit points system by ticketing traffic violators rather than congesting the law courts with minor cases. You Might Be Interested In Shots fired at police during morning chase Lawmen kept busy on New Year’s morning Man shot in Wanstead Gardens The permanent secretary’s disclosure follows the General Insurance Association of Barbados querying the delay in implementing the EVR. John Herbert, the head of the newly-formed road safety group, MakeItSafe Inc. (MISI), declaring that “we have lost control of our roads with our recklessness being the order of the day”, has identified the activation of the EVR as a key recommendation for making the nation’s roads safer. The five-month-old entity announced on Monday it will shortly present proposals to the government that, if implemented, would help put the brakes on reckless driving that has so far killed ten people including two in hit-and-run crashes this year. The MISI director said that with the roads already congested, about $100 million in insurance accident claims due to injury and death reported, and approximately 50 000 uninsured vehicles on the streets, this challenge will be compounded during the ICC’s Men’s T20 World Cup and the Crop Over festival immediately afterwards. The implementation of long-awaited and promised breathalyzer testing, and the activation of those surveillance cameras currently not in operation, are two other recommendations. “Immediately begin vehicle checks for registration and insurance and work with the GIAB [General Insurance Association of Barbados] to identify all registered and insured vehicles,” the MISI director told Barbados TODAY. Herbert added: “Make it a legal requirement for vehicle repairers to report all unexplained collisions… evidence of registration and insurance are required to be always in all vehicles.” “The next few weeks will not be business as usual. This is urgent, there is a clear and present danger. MakeItSafe is therefore calling on the authorities to give this matter the serious attention it deserves for the safety of all.” The road safety advocate suggested that the recommendations should be backed by the necessary laws. “People are just operating as though it is just open season for recklessness. Our position is that the authorities need to step up in order to bring order,” he argued. “There is an old adage that when the cats are away the mice will play. Right now, the mice are at play because nobody is watching.” He queried whether everyone is going to be safe on the roads, even as the authorities plan and prepare to host thousands of visitors from various parts of the world, pave streets in, and around The City, hotels and lodgings ready their facilities and security forces upgrade their strategies. “It’s a question that needs to be raised and answered,” the director of the road safety group insisted. emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb Emmanuel Joseph You may also like Updated: Wanted man Zion Jackson in custody 18/02/2025 Update: Person of interest identified and charged 18/02/2025 Man remanded on firearm and ammunition charges 18/02/2025