The government is in the process of developing a digital registry for road traffic offenders.
In a statement today, the Attorney General’s Chambers said it will lead in the initiative, which will also involve the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Public Service & Government Efficiency, the Guyana Police Force, the National Data Management Authority and other important stakeholders.
The digital registry will include “crucial information of road users including data regarding their licensing particulars and their antecedents as road users including previous charges and/or convictions of road traffic and related offences”, a statement from the AG Chambers said.
The Judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Prison Service, the Probation Department, the Guyana Revenue Authority and other important institutions of State and Government will have digital access to this registry.
“This measure will allow for greater and more efficient enforcement of our road traffic legislative framework, specifically, the diligent enforcement of penalties such as the Demerit Point System that authorises the suspension and revocation of drivers license for different categories of offences such as, inter alia, drunken driving and motor manslaughter,” the statement noted.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall subsequently explained in a video posted to his Facebook page, that “this measure rather, the construction of this registry and the accessibility of the information stored in the registry to police officers, to probation department and most importantly to our judicial officers will ensure that they have all the information readily available to them to make informed choices, informed decisions and impose appropriate penalties in relation to repeated offenders as the law contemplates.”
“So, a person who is convicted, for example, for a second time or third time for a drunken driving related offence can now, in keeping with the law, have his or her license either suspended or revoked as the case may be and as the law provides. This will obviously allow the law enforcement agencies, the judicial authorities and the relevant important agencies to make decisions and enforce penalties prescribed by the law,” Nandlall noted.
