http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/car-papers_7517211Police moving to prosecute motorists without original documentsAUTO
By Patrick Foster
fosterp@jamaicaobserver.comFriday, April 02, 2010
You're pulled over by the police and requested to present your driver's licence and documents for your car.
Then you remember your licence was left in the handbag you used yesterday. And the car papers? Those were in it as well.
The policeman promptly tells you that the car will be seized, as there is no proof of who you actually are, and who owns the vehicle.
Motorists are often uncertain about the correct procedure, under law, in respect to having documents for a vehicle and a drivers licence for presentation to the police.
"The policeman is correct," contended Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force traffic division.
Lewis said that that while there is a five-day allowance for motorists to present a drivers licence and certificate of fitness, a policeman can determine, on the spot, whether or not a vehicle will be seized.
"Once you don't have any documents the vehicle can be seized," Lewis emphasised, cautioning however that some amount of discretion should be exercised by the policeman.
He said that a motorist could be directed to contact someone to bring the papers to the scene, or the policeman may even accompany to driver to collect the documents, if feasible.
"It all depends ... I know that persons of reputation will comply," Lewis said of the five-day allowance. "Some people you cannot give them that opportunity or you will never see them again."
He further cautioned that when a motor vehicle is seized, both wrecker and storage fees are payable, even if the motorist's documents are proven to be in order.
Lewis however argued strongly that the five-day rule should be expunged from the books, calling it outdated and abused.
"The five-day [rule] is the law and we have to abide by it, but I am totally against it," said Lewis.
"That is for 100 years ago when the society was orderly and good, now things have changed," added Lewis, who charged that motorists were routinely falsifying drivers licences, insurance certificates and fitness certificates.
He said that original insurance and fitness certificates were being photocopied and dates and numbers changed on the copies, which were again photo copied to remove evidence of tampering. These, Lewis contended, were being carried in vehicles as true copies of the original.
Fake drivers licence made on computers, Lewis added, were being produced by unscrupulous persons and sold for $6,000.
The Traffic Division head charged that the main offenders were mini-bus and taxi drivers who, in some cases, possessed multiple motor vehicle plates and documents.
Against this background, Lewis said that his division was now moving to prosecute motorists driving without original documents.
He told Auto that the law actually requires that the original documents, not copies, are carried in a motor vehicle, but police over time, turned a blind eye to it.
"What I am doing now is reinforcing it because of all the criminality and 'bandooloism' now taking place," said Lewis.
A motorist failing to produce a driver's licence or insurance certificate is required to attend court, while the absence of a certificate of fitness attracts a $800 fine, Lewis explained.
