Seized motor scooters will be crushed- CoP
Commissioner of Police (CoP) Mr Michael B. Matthews told reporters at a press conference held at the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force’s temporary headquarters, on the upper flat of the Rite Way Supermarket at Pasea, on January 29, 2018, that as a move to have persons understand the need to respect the traffic laws of the territory of the (British) Virgin Islands, seized motor scooters will be crushed.
“The message is very clear, a scooter is an expensive investment, particularly for a young person, but you know what? If you are going to break the law and ride around without a helmet or ride around recklessly, no license, no insurance, and we catch you and we are catching you, we are going to seize the scooter and the direction I am giving is send them and scrap them.
“Take them down at a wrecker and have the scooters crushed up because people got to learn that there are laws in the Territory despite what happened, because we all know a lot of these people were breaching the traffic laws of this Territory long before the hurricanes came,” said the CoP sternly.
Youth the biggest culprits
According to the top cop, the biggest culprits of breaking the laws with motor scooters are the youth but suffice to say they are not the only ones and he is not “picking” on them. He went as far to explain that there are “respectable persons of society” that are also being found compromising the traffic laws.
“It’s interesting though that even the most respectable in society think its ok to drive around in uninsured vehicles or vehicles with dangerous parts hanging off them with the same excuse of ‘oh its Irma, there is no vehicle parts in the territory.’”
Mr Matthews insisted that his job is to enforce the laws of the Territory, traffic laws included, and he has been given no direction by the Governor or the Government to be flexible in the application of the law when it comes to traffic violations, “so we will continue to prosecute.”
He added that the situation of scooters and other motor vehicles operating illegally in the Territory has been made worse following the passage of the 2017 hurricanes.
“Because my officers are finding it now that they are prosecuting people for driving around without licenses plates on quite frequently now and the excuse is ‘it was blown off by (Hurricane) Irma’, well tell that to the magistrate and see if the magistrate believes you. Or ‘I couldn’t get it insured because of Irma’ why is that, ‘oh the insurance office is damaged’. Lots and lots of new excuses are coming out. But the bottom line is youth in particular. I am not picking on the young people in this Territory but in particular younger elements of our society have chosen to continue to break our traffic laws.”
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26 Responses to “Seized motor scooters will be crushed- CoP”
The legislatures refuse to bring harsh penalties against these bikers especially when the perpetrators of many shootings have choosing this mode of transportation to commit their vicious act. Not to mention many young people continue to lose their lives because of reckless driving. Why these kids are allow to ride at such a young age when they cannot operate a car beats me.
But the politicians have now targeted the young people who are naive and not capable of grasping issues and who they can influence to vote easily. As a result they refuse to pass any laws that may offend them even if its in their best interest and safety in the long run.
Every one he send to crush the FORCE will have to compensate the owner. Dont let Matthew come here with be Mickey mouse tactics thinking because we black we stupid . The law was written for all a we
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This police commissioner talks a lot and does very little..