The Transport Division of the Ministry of Works is now implementing new systems to reduce the widespread fraud that exists among vehicle owners says Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke.
“I have discovered there are a number of persons walking around with fraudulent documents such fraudulent drivers permits, certified copies, fraudulent approvals from the commissioner to use horns on their vehicles. I have discovered most of these documents were not generated in the Licensing Division. In other words, the tint certificate we are giving, someone could go and make that and show it to a law enforcement officer,” said Clarke who spoke to the media at the opening of the Peytonville bridge, Kelly Drive, Arima, yesterday.
To get around the fraudulent activity, the Transport Division is now moving towards a digital system, he said.
“One of the things that we had to do in terms of implementing the tint legislation was to computerise one. Every single application, every single approved tint is on the computer. Why? Because we want to be able to respond when someone asks how many persons have been approved.”
He said in the next three months they will be implementing the Computerised Inspection System so that all the garages in the country will now have access to the database. So when vehicle owners go to that garage to do a test and they go with a fraudulent document, the authorities would see whether the vehicle has approval.
He advised stakeholders like banks to use the Transport Division’s online system to verify the information that loan applicants present to them.
“Just recently we pulled over three vehicles...when those vehicles came to the authorities and we checked our records they had certified copies, they had insurance, but they were not in their systems. If these insurance agencies were using what we provided, those situations would have been stopped.”
Drivers now have until June 6 to ensure that their window tint complies with new motor vehicle tint laws.
The new window tint regulations were due to come into effect on March 8, but motorists have been granted an additional three months to ensure their vehicles are compliant.
He also spoke about the tint measuring device which will replace the previous system where a police officer or traffic warden could have looked at a vehicle and charged the owner of the vehicle.
“The new system allows us to use a tint measuring device the Visible Light Transmittance (VLT) which gives us the capacity to truly identify whether this vehicle is in compliance with law.”
The approved tint levels or Visible Light Transmittance (VLT) are as follows:
The windscreen – at least 70 per cent VLT,
Windscreen’s Anti-Glare Band - Width = 6” or 15cm from top – at least 35 per cent VLT,
Front windows (Driver and Passenger) – at Least 35 per cent VLT
Rear windows (Back Passengers) – at Least 20 per cent VLT
Rear windscreen – at least 20 per cent VLT