In a decisive address on January 7, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar unveiled a dual-strategy approach to tackle rampant traffic violations, blending stringent enforcement with temporary leniency. While vowing “swift and brutal retribution” against deliberate lawbreakers, she simultaneously announced upcoming parliamentary reforms to introduce grace periods for drivers to rectify vehicle defects.
The policy shift comes amid public outcry over sharply increased penalties, including doubled fines for expired inspection stickers—now $2,000—and revised late fees for permit renewals. The Ministry of Works and Transport acknowledged an administrative error in fee collection, revealing that drivers were initially undercharged due to a January 5 oversight. Corrected penalties now stand at $650 for permits expired under six months and $1,750 for those expired beyond six months but under three years.
Persad-Bissessar’s statement, titled “Fix It or Face the Law,” condemned the “blatant dishonesty” of ticketed drivers who claimed surprise about vehicle defects, asserting most knew their violations in advance. She attributed nationwide traffic chaos to “entitlement, indiscipline and misdirected priorities” but also acknowledged systemic issues within enforcement, revealing that a minority of traffic wardens and officers were “abusing the ticketing system and terrorizing law-abiding citizens.”
The proposed reforms will mandate repair windows before fines are enforced: three days for most defects (e.g., faulty lights, missing mirrors) and seven days for more significant issues like broken windshields, smoky exhausts, or noisy vehicles. The PM emphasized that while these temporary measures provide compliance opportunities, there would be “NO REDUCTION in traffic fines” and strict enforcement would continue until parliamentary approval.
Concluding with an unequivocal warning, Persad-Bissessar declared the law would apply equally regardless of political affiliation, wealth, or geographic origin, stating: “If you break the traffic laws, ANYBODY GETS IT!!!”