Amid concerns about the high number of uninsured motor vehicles on Jamaica’s roads, the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) says the police will be intensifying the clampdown.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Calvin Allen told RJR News that there has been a zero tolerance approach to the problem.

“In fact, I can report over 500 breaches that we have prosecuted last year into now, and this is just some of the figures that we have already collated. But I know that there’s some serious work taking place in the division with regards to this particular focus,” he said.

Under the current Road Traffic Act, motorists pay $2,000 for driving an uninsured vehicle.

ACP Allen is urging commuters not to take illegal public passenger vehicles because there is no compensation in the event of a crash.

“The red plate vehicle has a different type of insurance. That insurance is one where the passengers are covered; and so the illegal operators or the robots, they are trying to avoid paying those fees but yet want to operate within the same space as the legal operator, but those passengers are not covered, so in case of any collision of any sort, those persons are on their own,” ACP Allen declared.

A study by the Jamaica National Group revealed that more than half of registered vehicles in Jamaica were not insured.

The study is a follow up to a 2016 survey and is based on data from Tax Administration Jamaica and the Insurance Association of  Jamaica.