Opposition MP Terrence Deyalsingh has called on the Government to withdraw or send to a Joint Select Committee, The Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment Bill). The legislation was presented for debate last month by Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz.
According to the explanatory note of the bill, it seeks to establish a Motor Vehicles Authority for the registration, licensing and regulation of motor vehicles and drivers, the regulation of road use and related matters. It requires a special three/fifths majority vote for passage. But Deyalsingh, speaking in Parliament on Friday, said the bill provides for a medical practitioner to take a blood sample from a driver involved in an accident who was believed to have been driving under the influence of alcohol or some drug.
He said there should be wider consultations on who should be allowed to take blood in those circumstances. “We are recommending that the legislation go to a Joint Select Committee,” Deyalsingh told legislators. He warned that any attempt to take blood from a drunk driver could be met with aggression. “They will want to fight back, they will want to kick and they will want to scream,” he added.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development Stacy Roopnarine said the proposed change will benefit the motoring public as the country will have a modern motor vehicle registration and administrative system. She said the establishment of the Motor Vehicles Authority is being established “to better administer the issuance of a driver’s permit and manage more effectively and efficiently the registration and licensing of motor vehicles.”
Roopnarine said new license plates are also to be introduced under the proposed legislation.