THE DEMERIT SYSTEM WILL CAUSE THE PPP TO LOSE POWER

May 17, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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A demerit system is used in many jurisdictions in the developed world as means of dealing with road traffic violation. The demerit system however is far from perfect and has many drawbacks.
The first of these is that it constitutes a system of double punishment for errant rivers. Under the demerit system, a driver is not just penalized with a harsh fine but he or she may also be then subject to having points affixed to his license which when accumulated can lead to disqualification.
In this regard the system is extremely controversial because someone should not be punished twice for an offence, first by either being charged or having to pay a hefty fine and then on top of that accumulating points which can lead to his license being disqualified.
Guyana does not need such a system. We have a few thousand drivers on our roads. We do not have millions of vehicles plying our roads and thus requiring a system of weeding out drivers. Our laws are already geared to do so by having persons driving dangerously being brought before the courts which has the power to revoke their licenses.
The demerit system has never been shown to reduce road accidents of road fatalities. In fact this system was implemented for purely economic reasons. It provides justification for the insurance companies to jack up your insurance premiums every time a driver accumulates points for offenses. This demerit system was tailor-made for insurance companies. They are prime beneficiaries of this system. The more points that are accumulated by rivers, the more premiums they will receive.
In a small economy like Guyana, this can have serious effects because it will lead to an increase in taxi and minibus fares because these are the vehicles that the police love to stop and when drivers receive their points for offenses, the insurance companies in Guyana will have reason to increase the premiums. This increased cost will then be passed on to consumers.
It is therefore unfortunate that Guyana has decided to copy that system. It is unfortunate for a number of reasons. Firstly, it will fatten the revenues of local insurance companies. Secondly, it will further fatten the pockets of corrupt traffic officers.
Even police who are not in the traffic department will now want to stop motorists willy nilly in the hope that they can catch them committing an offense and thus be able to extract not just one set of bribes but two sets of bribes: one for the offense and the other for waiving the points that the drivers would be liable to receive for the offense. What we will have is double corruption.
A demerit system cannot work where corruption is so rampant. It will further corrupt the system. It should never have been implemented. Already the traffic fines are so prohibitive that they have encouraged corruption. A driver would prefer to give a policeman a $2000 bribe rather than face the prospect of having to pay a fine of $7, 500.
Now that driver will know that he can be disqualified if the police rank issues a ticket and gives him points for the alleged offense. No driver wants to face the prospect of having his license being taken away and so that driver may be induced into paying further bribes. Only this time the sums will not be a few thousand dollars but will be tens of thousands of dollars.
If this demerit system is implemented in Guyana, the public transportation system will shut down. Many drivers of hire cars, minibuses and goods carrying vehicles already have to pay massive bribes to traffic ranks to avoid prosecution and harassment. Now when the powers of the traffic ranks are increased by this demerit system it will mean that these public transportation operators will be at the total mercy of corrupt traffic cops. If this demerit system is implemented, I predict that there will be strike by public transport operators because they will be at the mercy of traffic cops.
The government should leave the legislation on the books. We can always boast that Guyana has advanced legislation. But this demerit system should not be introduced until such time as the corruption within the Guyana Police Force is reduced.
To implement this demerit system at this time will entrench and deepen corruption on the roads. It will lead to an increase in bribery, a steep rise in insurance premiums and a skyrocketing of fares.
That is not something that any government should desire in the year in which local government elections are to be held. The fact that Cabinet could have given its consent to this piece of legislation shows how far out of touch it is from reality.
If the PPP implements this demerit system, they can as well back their bags and leave office because they will be booted out of office. In fact whichever government utilizes this system will not enjoy public support.

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