PM: Government to give drivers time to get in gear

A Licensing officer inspects a truck at the Caroni Licensing Office on the Southern Main Road, Caroni on January 7. - Photo by Faith Ayoung

A TOUGH-TALKING Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar vowed to enforce the law against errant drivers to protect law-abiding citizens, yet also leniently promised drivers a future window of opportunity at an unstated time to get their vehicles in order.

As she said the government will soon give drivers three to seven days to fix their vehicles, in a statement on January 7.

"Therefore in the coming weeks the government will go to parliament to propose to implement the following reforms to make it mandatory for drivers to be given time to repair defects before the fines are enforced," the PM vowed.

For most defects, drivers will get a grace period of three days. Drivers with a broken wind-shield, smoky vehicle or a noisy vehicle are allowed seven days.

Over the past three there has been a noticed a rush by drivers to get their car inspection stickers as the fine doubled from January 1 from $1,000 to $2,000. Newsday on January 7 highlighted a man facing $19,000 in road fines including $10,000 for driving without insurance.

Also on January 5 several people at the licensing office in Port of Spain complained about being surprised by a $600 late fee to renew their driver permits but which Transport Minister Eli Zakour said had also previously existed (at $350), with the increase having been publicly debated in both Houses of Parliament in the recent Finance Bill 2025.

However, the Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT) said on January 7 that owing to an administrative error drivers who paid $600 were undercharged.

The ministry attributed the discrepancy to an oversight discovered on the evening on January 5. The updated and corrected fee schedule is now reflected on the MOWT’s official website.

Under the revised structure, drivers whose permits have been expired for six months or less now face a late fee of $650, an increase from the $600 charged on January 5. For permits expired for more than six months but less than three years, the penalty has risen to $1,750, up from the previous $1,000.

Persad-Bissessar, in her statement titled Fix It or Face the Law, began quite tough-talking before giving drivers three days to comply with the law.

She said her recent statement that TT was "a lawless dump" has been absolutely confirmed by the many traffic infractions and deliberately lawless drivers being fined.

"The lawlessness was compounded by the blatant dishonesty on show from many of those ticketed who pretended to have been caught by surprise by the defects in their vehicles or expired documentation. I want to be clear, their dishonesty and pretence fools no one."

The PM said most of the ticketed citizens knew about their vehicle defects and expired documents well in advance of being ticketed and so fully deserved fines for their lawless behaviour. "The entitlement, indiscipline and misdirected priorities of some lawless citizens who inconvenience and endanger law-abiding citizens will not be tolerated any more.

"No discipline will be met with no tolerance. No one will sway me from cleaning up this lawless dump to benefit citizens who try to live decent law-abiding lives.

"Any citizen is free to mash up the place and misbehave if they want to, but I guarantee that I will continue to meet lawlessness with the swift and brutal retribution that I promised."

She said that day Zakour and Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander told her a small minority of traffic wardens, licensing officers and police officers were abusing the ticketing system and terrorizing law-abiding citizens.

"I cannot let this wicked behaviour continue and must now move to provide protection to law-abiding citizens from delinquent drivers as well as misbehaving law enforcement officers," Persad-Bissessar said.

She said when sworn in as PM she had vowed to never be detached from the public's feelings and aspirations, but to always listen.

"I will never do my own thing while the country cries out for their needs.

"You will be my priority. You must always know that you have leaders who cares and understands your problems.

She said in the coming weeks the government will go to Parliament to propose reforms for drivers to be given time to repair defects before the fines are enforced.

"There will absolutely be NO REDUCTION in traffic fines and strict enforcement will continue until these reforms are made.

"The law will be applied equally across the country, it does not matter if you are UNC, PNM or any other grouping, it does not matter if you are rich or poor, if you are from Debe or Diego Martin. If you break the traffic laws, ANYBODY GETS IT !!!"

Persad-Bissessar listed the offences under the Fixed Penalty Notice Warning System to be fixed by drivers and the time-frame.

Offences listed in the ninth schedule and time-frame to fix are as follows:

#35 No identification lights for the illumination of identification marks on vehicles at night: three days

#37 Number of passengers to be carried not printed on right front door of taxi: three days

# 39 No Tare and MGW painted on vehicles: three days

#40 Vehicle with defective fittings (Licensing Authority has confirmed that several defects such as damaged windscreens etcetera are covered under this violation): seven days

#41 Vehicle without silencers or fitted with cut outs: three days

#42 Unauthorised lights to front or rear of vehicles: three days

#43 Unauthorised letters and figures on vehicle: three days

#44 Vehicles without two head lamps: three days

#45 Vehicle without park lights: three days

#46 Vehicle without tail lights: three days

#48 No “left hand drive” notice affixed to appropriate vehicle:

#63 Vehicle without horn: three days

#64 Permitting excess sparks, smoke or visible vapour from vehicle three days: seven days

#72 Vehicle without reflecting mirror: three days

#74 Use of noisy vehicle: seven days

#76 Use of vehicle with no wind shield wiper of defective wiper: three days

#79 Public Service vehicle without spare tyre: three days

#82 Placing of advertisement on side of window of taxi: three days