Officer in Charge of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Traffic Division Chief Superintendent David Lockhart has revealed that over 12,500 tickets have been issued for the year. He also said that Closed Circuit Television a tremendous tool for police.
Lockhart outlined some of the infractions found on the streets. He said, “every type of infraction you could dream about persons are committing it. Not stereotype but we have noticed that a lot of the small Japanese car are the major offenders of the traffic laws. You stop an offender and when you check his history you’d find that they’ve been reported fourteen, eighteen as much as twenty times for different traffic offenses.”
The Chief Superintendent said the bulk of the tickets issued this year have been for driving without insurance, no driver’s license and uninsured and uninspected vehicles.
Lockhart expressed the view that stiffer penalties are needed. “We need to get to a point where the judicial system is now suspending persons when you commit so many traffic infractions. Road Traffic is trying to implement a point system. So if you commit a traffic infraction then they deduct points and when you get all of your points deducted from you traffic license then your license is suspended and then you have to go to driver’s education to be reinstated. I can’t give a time, how soon it will be implemented but I know definitely me and the Controller of Road Traffic, we’re in discussions and she is working on that.”
Lockhart is also seeking to address road rage by advocating for additional legislation.
