Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke has revealed that the Spot Speed and Red-Light Camera Enforcement Systems could be implemented within a year.
Trinidad and Tobago has been hearing about the ‘Spot Speed’ and ‘Red-Light Camera Enforcement Systems’ for some years.
During a Joint Select Committee on Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner Clarke confirmed that the Licensing Division is moving apace to finally implement the system.
“At this point, as far as the Commissioner is aware, we would have completed some time ago a tender for that matter. And as well as that current tender, we would have also completed the standstill period and that is currently receiving the attention of the legal department for ratification.”
He noted that once procured, the system could be implemented within a year.
“Looking at what was proposed on our timeline from the event that such a solution is awarded because our centralised systems are more or less ready. We are seeing it will take us approximately eight months to a year.”
The Transport Commissioner said that data comes first, which must be instantly accessible for cameras and detection systems to work at scale. However, he noted that the Licensing Division is “100% ready.”
“If we’re talking about road enforcement, we are saying that data must be vehicle information, vehicle registration information so you can find out who’s your registered owner, the type of vehicle, the make, the model, and you must have information on the drivers: who are the drivers of those vehicles, where they live, what class they can drive, etc. I want to say where we are in terms of data centralisation, the licensing authority, licensing records is 100% ready for that type of advancement.”
He also confirmed that data on vehicle inspections is up to date.
“We also have, on that record, data even relevant to inspection. Every single vehicle that is inspected is also digitised. What does that mean? That means to us in Licensing with technology and with a proper vehicle detection system, we could have camera systems that can check to see whether a vehicle has been inspected. We have camera system, we can check to see that vehicle, type, make, and model by simply looking at a picture of that vehicle.”
According to the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, the Red-Light Camera Enforcement and Spot Speed systems will automatically capture and transmit red-light and speed violations for review by trained officers, who verify the breach and mail a citation to the vehicle’s registered owner, using information from an updated electronic database.