Police are warning citizens that any attempt to jam their radar signals from speed detection guns with the use of electronic devices is illegal and can cost you ten times the amount of a speeding ticket.
In a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian on Wednesday, Supt Mathura Singh of the Highway and Traffic Patrol said the punishment for having such devices was $10,000 while a speeding ticket was $1,000.
Singh said that he was scheduled to meet with officials from the Customs and Excise yesterday to discuss the importation of such devices but was unable to do so. That meeting will take place on a later date.
Some of the devices which can be bought online for a low as US$30, can alert drivers from 1,000 yards away about speed gun radars. Drivers can then slow down and when out of the range of the officers, continue at excessive speeds.
Last night, the Police Service said seven drivers were charged with exceeding the speed limit during an operation conducted by the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch along the east bound lane of the Audrey Jeffers Highway yesterday afternoon.
Among those charged was a motorist who was ticketed with being five kilometres over the 80 kilometres speed limit, the release stated.
Those charged have until July 19 to pay the $1,000 fine.
Section 62 of the Motor and Road Traffic Act states, a person shall not: (a) equip a motor vehicle with; or (b) use, buy, possess, manufacture, sell, or otherwise distribute, any device that is designed for jamming, scrambling, neutralising, disabling, or otherwise interfering with a speed measuring device used by a constable to measure the speed at which a person is driving a motor vehicle.
In a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian earlier this week, co-ordinator of the Road Safety Project, Brent Batson said police officers will not be standing at the side of the road hoping to catch a speedsters.
He added that the devices can be operated from a vehicle and there would be times when the police might utilise the tripod mount but that was not the ideal.
Speaking on the issue at the passing out parade of 167 police officers on Wednesday at the Police Academy, St James, acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams said everything was in place for the use of the speed guns including the certification of officers using them. He warned motorist to “be careful on the roadway.”
“There has been no recent change in the speed limit in the T&T, it is about compliance. People are now concerned about prosecution and I am happy that they are concerned about that because it is impacting the way people behave on the roadway,” Williams said.
And Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said people have been slowing down as a result of the use of speed measuring devices used by police on the roads, Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said yesterday.
Speaking at yesterday’s the post-Cabinet media briefing, Hinds said: “We’re very impressed with the fact drivers have been discernibly slowing down.”
Noting there had been 52 road deaths so far this year, he also said the Police Commissioner had corrected reports about the start-up use of the devices, clarifying that they are indeed in effect. He said public views will continue to be considered by the experts in and out of the Ministry in light of an online petition to increase the speed limit on highways from 80 kph to 120 kph. —with reporting by Gail Alexander