Motorists passing by a crashed airborne SUV draped over the guardrail along Airport Road on Tuesday morning may have wondered how in heaven’s name it got there. There seems to be little doubt though that the vehicle must have been going pretty fast.
Those wondering about the speed limit there ought to note that many people don’t even know. This likely has to do at least partially with lack of active controls.
In so-called built-up zones (“bebouwde kom”) the maximum is 50 kilometres- or 31 miles per hour and for other, open areas 80 kilometres- or 50 miles per hour. That particular stretch could be considered the latter up until the car rentals.
Are most drivers in compliance? Probably not. Truth be told, if they were traffic might move even slower.
Nevertheless, the rule exists to protect road users and needs to be respected. If it is considered outdated and requires amending that’s up to elected representatives and government, but while in the books it should in principle be upheld.
To do so, however, tools are essential. In mid-August Minister of Justice Nathalie Tackling identified eight priority areas for a major modernisation of St. Maarten’s Traffic Ordinance, including tougher rules on mobile phone use while driving, speed cameras, stronger DUI laws, vehicle impoundment for reckless driving and new regulations for scooters, e-bikes and other alternative vehicles.
The ministry wants legislation establishing the legal foundation for automated traffic enforcement, including smart cameras and citations issued based on vehicle licence plate numbers. However, while describing modernisation of the applicable regulations as an urgent public safety priority, the minister did not provide Parliament with a firm date by which the amendments will be tabled.
She explained that the process would require finalisation and legal review of the draft legislation, consultations with stakeholders including law enforcement and the Prosecutor’s Office, advice from the Council of Advice and eventual submission to Parliament for debate and adoption.
According to the minister, the scale and complexity of the proposed changes made it difficult to commit to a definitive timetable at that stage, but the revision was being treated as a priority and efforts were being made to advance the process as quickly as possible.
Hopefully that is indeed the case, because without enforcement laws become proverbial toothless tigers and not worth the paper they were written on.
