The Penalty Points System (PPS), introduced with the enactment of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill last year, will very soon be implemented by the authorities. In the meantime, the Traffic Branch of the Police and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, National Development Unit, Land Transport and Shipping, are intensifying their efforts to get everything ready so that road users can abide by the new law.
In this regard, the distribution of the “licence paper counterpart”, an important document to be annexed to the licence of the driver, will start on 21 January, at over 20 points around the country and in Rodrigues. Moreover, the Traffic Branch has, in the wake of the coming into operation of the PPS, set up a new computerised system that will contain and update all relevant details pertaining to drivers’ licence and the eventual sanctions they will receive from courts.
The operation of a PPS is meant to deter the commission of road traffic offences by assigning penalty points on conviction for certain road traffic offences. With the introduction of the PPS, drivers failing to observe the road codes will be severely reprimanded.
Thus, penalty points will be assigned to certain road traffic offences, including the following: (a) failing to wear securely a prescribed protective helmet while riding a motorcycle or an autocycle; (b) neglecting or refusing to comply with traffic directions given by a police officer; (c) using a hand held or hand-free microphone or telephone handset whilst driving a motor vehicle; (d) using a vehicle on a road without prescribed lights during hours of darkness; and (e) exceeding speed limit.
Penalty points attributed to an offence will remain effective for a period of three years. The PPS may cause a driver to have his driving licence suspended for at least six months if he has exceeded the threshold limit of 15 penalty points. On a second disqualification, the driving licence will be cancelled. Under the proposed Mauritian system, the counter will start at zero, and points will be totaled cumulatively for each and every offence. Penalty points will be imposed by the Court, in addition to other sanctions such as monetary fines, and used especially to tackle the most dangerous safety related road traffic offences committed by drivers.
The system is expected to instill a greater sense of responsibility in motorists and make our road safer. There are now better provisions for the Photographic Enforcement Device Notice scheme to be aligned with the PPS by determining a proper mechanism for allocation and recording of penalty points.
The PPS is in line with government’s strategy to increase road safety and to comply with international norms and subsequently reduce casualties on roads. The authorities are of the view that the penalty point system will trigger the right mindset among drivers so that they become more cautious and diligent. Government is determined to take bold and severe actions against those defaulters who have no respect for human life.
The PPS is a system which has successfully been implemented in many countries across the world such as the United States of America, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and several European countries. In most jurisdictions, the introduction of the PPS has led to a significant reduction in road accidents casualties and fatalities, when there is an effective traffic monitoring system.
In Italy, for instance, it was estimated that the introduction 10 years ago of a PPS for driving offences had led to a reduction of about 10% of road accidents and of about 25% of traffic fatalities. In Spain, an assessment of the effectiveness of the PPS introduced in 2006, in reducing traffic injuries, has shown that it was associated with reduced numbers of drivers involved in injury collisions and people injured by traffic collisions.
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