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NRSC Vice Chair Dr. Lucien Jones and Prime Minister Andrew Holness
By Prince Moore
The automatic suspension of the licences of drivers who accumulate 10 or more demerit points for certain traffic violations will resume in the next two weeks.
This was part of measures announced Thursday during a meeting of the National Road Safety Council.
The meeting was held to discuss measures to address the carnage on the roads due to road crashes.
Vice Chair of the National Road Safety Council, Dr. Lucien Jones, says he is pleased that the system will be coming on stream to help curb the poor behaviour of drivers.
"This should be a big deterrent because everybody wants to have their licence to drive. The use of cameras to enhance enforcement is something that is being used worldwide, and therefore we are welcoming all of these things and very proud and very pleased with the Prime Minister directing traffic, pun unintended," he said.
Dr. Jones said the NRSC is looking forward to an improved breathalyser system, which measures breath for alcohol content.
Internationally, he pointed out, 30 per cent of drivers who are involved in road crashes have been found to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
"We see no reason why this cannot be replicated in Jamaica. The levels that are currently being reported is too low. We need to ramp up the breathalyser system," he asserted.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the government will be reviewing the threshold of alcohol intake for drivers.
He said the government will seek to lower the threshold levels in keeping with international trends.
"The truth is, our public education campaign has said don't drink and drive. But the laws say something differently. The laws would suggest that there is a threshold for which you can drink and drive. That is inconsistent and I think we should take a look at that to make the threshold lower, so that we are able to capture more persons who are driving under the influence," he proposed.
The latest National Road Safety Council meeting follows Tuesday's crash which claimed the lives of two Titchfield High School students in Portland.
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