Sinanan touts speed-guns, online DP

The provision of nine new speed-guns to the Police Service and a new online system to verify drivers permits will both reduce road deaths, said Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan.

He spoke on Thursday at a function at his ministry in Port of Spain to hand over the Lidar speed guns to acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams. Sinanan said he hopes the online verification system would help eradicate corruption from the Licensing Division and improve the division’s systems towards greater transparency and efficiency.

He said the system will allow details of drivers permits to be accessed online by a particular motorist and by the authorities, including checking a driver’s demerit points and his/her facial features and performing mobile ticketing. “It will make access to official data stored at the Licensing Division quicker and easier,” Sinanan said.

Williams said the use of existing speed guns since their introduction has resulted in the issuance of 18,000 speeding tickets and a marked decline in road accidents, with road deaths halving from 267 in 2007 to 134 in 2017.