$9m in speeding tickets since January

UPDATE:

AN increased number of police on the roads has led to a significant hike in the number of speeding tickets issued, police road safety co-ordinator Brent Batson said yesterday at the Police Service’s weekly media briefing in Port of Spain.

Batson said that since January, the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch had issued 9,640 tickets, amounting to an estimated $9.6 million in revenue to the State via fines, which he said is a record figure. He said the number was evidence of the work being done by the police in adopting a more aggressive approach to road safety and credited the increase in tickets to the acquisition of additional speed guns.

“This is definitely an increase because we only just got the additional speed guns in December. So that is almost half of last year done in the first quarter. It just shows despite the nationwide speed enforcement in place. Drivers need to be vigilant, no matter where they are not just the highway.

“We’re happy with the level of the enforcement, but there are many people who don’t realise that speed detection is not restricted to the highway. It is everywhere.” Batson said 151 drivers were arrested and charged for driving under the influence for the year to date, but despite this improvement in detection, police are still challenged by a high number of road fatalities, with 19 confirmed so far, the same figure as last year.

He reminded drivers that anyone found over the legal limit of 35 micrograms of alcohol in their blood could face a fine ranging from $12,000 to $22,500 or a weekend in jail.

ORIGINAL STORY:

An increased presence of police officers on the nation's roadways has led to a significant increase in the number of speeding tickets issued for the year thus far, according to police Road Safety Coordinator Brent Batson during a police media briefing this morning on Sackville Street, Port of Spain.

Batson said since January officers of the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch have issued a total of 9,640 tickets amounting to an estimated $9.6 M and said this was a record figure for the police service.

He said the large figure was evidence of the work being done by the police service in adopting a more aggressive approach to ensuring road safety and credited the issuance of tickets to additional speed guns procured by the police service.