Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan says Cabinet has approved a review of the Demerit Points System following complaints from motorists.
He says instead of having their Driver’s Permit suspended for some time, errant motorists may have to take a ‘refresher’ course.
“There have been some complaints and observations about the Demerit Point System that sometimes it might be a little too harsh. The Ministry has constantly been reviewing that. In 2022, we reviewed it, in 2024, and a further review was done and has been approved by the Cabinet.”
As is done currently, when the Demerit Points reach a certain figure, motorists can face disqualification of their Driver’s Permit for a certain period. But Minister Sinanan said this could be changed in the near future.
“Where we are actually looking in terms of not disqualifying you when you reach to a certain threshold, but actually ask you to do a simple course, a refresher course, and then we remove the points once you complete the refresher course, and we are looking to, it’s a work in progress.”
The Minister denied that the Demerit Point System is a way for the Government to earn revenue.
“It’s really a culture change, it’s not a revenue earner. And it’s not that we want to penalise people, but we have to achieve that road safety mark that all countries want to achieve. And Trinidad, I must say, we were the only country in the Western Hemisphere to achieve that in 2020, 2021. We were the only country to achieve a 50% reduction. We had a little spike since then, but we are still within what, you know, the figure that we want to target.”
However, he said that to make this change, there needs to be legislative amendments.
“Sometimes certain things need little legislative change, and sometimes I have to convince some colleagues that, you know, we need to hustle this. Unfortunately, the Parliament has been dissolved, and we were not able, after all the groundwork was done and we were ready to go, but we had to do the legislative changes. We were not able to get that through. So I am hoping that when Prime Minister Young appoints a new Cabinet, whoever is the Minister here, within the first month, will be able to invite you all again.”
Minister Sinanan was speaking during the launch of the Licensing Office’s New Driver’s Permit and Certified Copy Online and Kiosk Systems.