RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca­s­ookraj@guardian.co.tt

Dri­ving schools across T&T will soon op­er­ate un­der reg­u­la­tions for the first time, ac­cord­ing to Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Ro­han Sinanan.

Speak­ing at the launch of a dis­abil­i­ty park­ing zone at South Park, San Fer­nan­do, on Fri­day, the min­is­ter said the ini­tia­tive to reg­u­larise dri­ving schools was part of a broad­er plan to en­sure ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty for dis­abled in­di­vid­u­als. He con­firmed that con­sul­ta­tions have been com­plet­ed, and le­gal teams are fi­nal­is­ing the reg­u­la­tions.

Sinanan re­vealed that the new rules will in­clude ac­com­mo­da­tions for dif­fer­ent­ly-abled in­di­vid­u­als, even if li­cens­ing of­fices have to as­sist in im­ple­ment­ing these mea­sures. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from dis­abled or­gan­i­sa­tions, in­clud­ing the Con­sor­tium of Dis­abil­i­ties Or­gan­i­sa­tions, were present at the event.

Vice pres­i­dent of the Con­sor­tium of Dis­abil­i­ties Or­gan­i­sa­tions Bhawani Per­sad said it was dif­fi­cult for dis­abled peo­ple to ob­tain a dri­ver’s li­cence be­cause dri­ving schools and li­cens­ing of­fices do not ac­com­mo­date their needs.

He not­ed that dis­abled peo­ple of­ten have to pur­chase a ve­hi­cle suit­able for their use be­fore ap­ply­ing for a li­cence, which im­pos­es a sig­nif­i­cant fi­nan­cial bur­den.

He al­so called for trans­porta­tion to be made avail­able for those who do not dri­ve.

Min­is­ter Sinanan then in­struct­ed his team to en­sure that the pro­pos­al, made by Per­sad, be in­clud­ed in the new reg­u­la­tions.

Sinanan em­pha­sised the Gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to its 2030 vi­sion, which seeks to en­sure no one is left be­hind.

While ac­knowl­edg­ing the chal­lenges faced in in­tro­duc­ing such reg­u­la­tions, Sinanan said they were nec­es­sary for in­clu­sion.

He al­so said the en­force­ment of traf­fic rules was not aimed at gen­er­at­ing gov­ern­ment rev­enue but at pro­mot­ing cul­tur­al change.

“If you park in a dis­abil­i­ty spot with­out au­tho­ri­sa­tion, there will be con­se­quences. This is not about rev­enue gen­er­a­tion—it’s about cul­tur­al change. It would be great if no one broke the rules,” he said.

He not­ed that the Cab­i­net had re­cent­ly ap­proved ad­just­ments to traf­fic fines and the points sys­tem.

Re­gard­ing the serv­ing of no­tices to of­fend­ers with de­mer­it points, Sinanan said it was of­ten dif­fi­cult to lo­cate them, so the min­istry will pub­lish the names of of­fend­ers in news­pa­pers. Fail­ure to re­spond will re­sult in per­mit dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion.

Sinanan al­so said dri­vers who ac­cu­mu­late points may be of­fered the op­tion to take a course to re­move points in­stead of fac­ing im­me­di­ate dis­qual­i­fi­ca­tion.

On road safe­ty ini­tia­tives, Sinanan said the Road Safe­ty Coun­cil was co­or­di­nat­ing ef­forts across min­istries to im­prove safe­ty.

Projects in­clude re­plac­ing high­way bar­ri­ers, in­stalling guard rails, and con­duct­ing au­dits. He al­so re­vealed that the min­istry is eval­u­at­ing 100 elec­tric bus­es as part of ef­forts to tran­si­tion to a ful­ly elec­tric fleet, en­sur­ing ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty for all cit­i­zens.

Mean­while, Trans­port Com­mis­sion­er Clive Clarke is­sued a stern warn­ing to those who abuse dis­abled park­ing zones. He em­pha­sised that there will be strict en­force­ment of the law, with se­vere penal­ties for those who forge per­mits.

“The park­ing zones will be marked, and the sym­bol will be a spe­cif­ic size. If we do not ad­here to the law, you will be pe­nalised,” Clarke said, adding that a dis­abil­i­ty park­ing per­mit will be re­quired to ac­cess the zones.

So­cial De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Don­na Cox praised South Park Plaza CEO An­tho­ny Ra­hael for en­sur­ing ac­ces­si­ble park­ing spaces for dri­vers with dis­abil­i­ties. She not­ed that many dis­abled peo­ple make sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to T&T’s so­ci­ety and should be treat­ed equal­ly.