Police issue $25,000 in traffic tickets

HIGHWAY PATROL officers carried out impromptu Black Friday exercises along two of the country’s main highways and issued more than $25,000 in traffic tickets to errant motorists.

Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Traffic Nazamool Hosein told Newsday: “We are taking a zero tolerance stance on errant and reckless drivers since lives are at risk. We are not going to relent in our drive to make the nation’s highways and roads as safe as possible and the country can look forward to more exercises in the very near future.”

Yesterday’s exercise was carried out under the supervision of Snr Supt Randolph Protain and included ASP Rajendra Maharaj, Sgt Khan, Cpl Ramnanan and others. The exercise started at 6 am and ended five hours later. It was carried out along the busy Churchill Roosevelt and Uriah Butler Highways, the Curepe intersection and in Freeport. Of the 122 offences detected, 70 were for breach of the traffic lights, 11 for breach of traffic signs, 23 for improper overtaking on the shoulder, 12 for improper overtaking on the right, four for defective licence plates and “TARE” markings while two persons were charged for failing to provide driving documents to the police.

Traffic Branch sources told Newsday there have been 25 fatal accidents in which 28 persons lost their lives. For the corresponding period last year, there were 19 fatal accidents in which 24 persons lost their lives.