VI Standpoint.com: Road Warden Bill to be introduced

Road Warden Bill to be introduced
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 on 04/11/2010 18:24:30

The VIP government will soon introduced a Road Warden Bill in the House of
Assembly (HOA), which will give way for the appointment of a Road Warden for
each electoral district under the Ministry of Communications and Works.
This was stated by the Governor, His Excellency William Boyd McCleary, during
the speech he delivered from the throne in the HOA recently.

Governor McCleary said that road wardens will be responsible for ensuring the
public roads within the districts are kept clear and maintained at all times and
will work closely with, and report to, the Minister of Communications and Works
and Director of Public Works.
According to the Governor, the Government is committed to maintaining reliable,
safe, affordable and comfortable transport systems, which will meet future
needs. In this regard, a draft policy to amend the Roads Ordinance, for the
establishment of an effective Road Warden Programme has been approved by Cabinet
and will be tabled soon.
Additionally, the Government will also propose a Traffic Warden Act to create a
Traffic Warden Unit under the Ministry of Communications and Works with an
appropriate number of traffic wardens to assist the Royal Virgin Islands Police
Force deal with traffic offences.
Last year, legislators argued in the HOA over the setting up of the very traffic
warden unit, which was expected to operate independently from the traffic
department of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force.
In 2009, the bill was piloted by Minister for Communications and Works,
Honourable Julian Fraser, who was eventually forced to send the Road Traffic
(Amendment) Act, 2009 to a Select Committee following strong criticisms from
several members of the House against certain aspects, including remuneration,
powers of arrests and powers granted to the Minister and the possibility of
conflict between the police and traffic wardens.
Prior to Minister Fraser sending the amendments to a Committee, Second District
Representative, Alvin Chrisopher, described the Bill as “loose” and
“fragmented” and attempted to have the Bill withdrawn entirely.
However, Minister Fraser had noted that the amendments were necessary to deal
with the increase in traffic violations; he moved a motion to set up the
Committee. The Select Committee comprised of At-Large Representative, Vernon
Malone, Fourth District Representative, Dr.Vincent Scatliffe and Seventh
District Representative, Dr. Kedrick Pickering.
At that time, Dr. Pickering told the House that he was uncomfortable with the
Bill, noting that he had “misgivings” when he read it and became even more
uncomfortable as the Minister explained it.
He opined that the Bill seeks to ‘go back to a system that has already been
tried and failed, noting that the Act is being amended to among other things
insert the words “traffic warden” in instances of the Act where the words
“police officer” is mentioned.
Opposition Leader, Dr. Orlando Smith, had said that the Bill was seeking to
establish a separate parallel bureaucracy to do the same thing that the police;
this hr claimed will end up being more expensive. He added that he is worried
about the relationship the wardens will have with the police.
The Act stipulates that the Minister must seek approval from the Minister of
Finance on the matter of remuneration for wardens.