Traffic Updates

While the Ministry of Works & Transport operated the pilot of this initiative, the nationwide launch and prosecuting red-light traffic violations requires the active involvement of other key agencies:

• The Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) – for monitoring;
• The Trinidad & Tobago Postal Service (TTPOST) – to deliver and process payments of citation notices;
• The Judiciary of Trinidad & Tobago – should a notice to contest be filed by the traffic violator;
• The Licensing Authority – for relevant action should the traffic violator fail to pay their ticket fine;
• The Trinidad & Tobago Police Services, Licensing Authority & Traffic Warden Division – for Inspection Officers; and
• The Trinidad & Tobago Bureau of Standards – to ensure proper maintenance and compliance of red-light cameras with international standards.

Previously, the legislation required a law enforcement officer to observe the breach of the red-light traffic signal, while on patrol for the law enforcement process to occur. The officer then has to use his or her discretion, based on the circumstances, to issue a ticket or a summons to appear in Magistrate’s Court.
With the introduction of the Red-Light Camera Enforcement Technology, the system’s automated camera provides 24-hour surveillance for the photo detection and video recording of vehicles entering and continuing through an intersection with a red traffic light. Once a vehicle is captured in violation of that red traffic light, the data is immediately and electronically transmitted to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC).
An electronic case file is created by the TEC for the red-light violation. The highly trained staff at TEC will engage in the analysis of photographs and video recordings of the red-light violation. The first step of the analysis involves a preliminary review by a Processing Officer who will confirm the vehicle’s registered information.
The next step involves analysis by an Inspection Officer, who is a trained Police Officer, Traffic Warden or Licensing Officer and, has been certified to be an Inspection Officer by the Commissioner of Police. The Inspection Officer reviews the footage of the red-light traffic violation to determine if a breach did occur.
Once a breach of the red-light traffic signal is certified by the Inspection Officer, a citation notice is generated and mailed to the registered owner of the motor vehicle via TTPOST courier. The citation notice will contain the following information:

• The registered owner of the vehicle;
  
• The registration number plate of the vehicle;
  
• The make and colour of the vehicle;
  
• The online link to the photograph and video recording of the violation;
  
• Date when the photograph and recording was captured; and
  
• The time and location at which the photograph was captured.

To allow for a citation notice to be delivered to the registered owner of the motor vehicle, the Ministry of Works & Transport has ensured that all driving permit records and vehicular information have been updated and placed on an electronic database. The information of the vehicle involved in the red-light traffic violation will be retrieved and confirmed from that electronic database. When reviewing the photograph and video recordings of red-light violations, Inspection Officers can access the vehicle’s details from the electronic database to identify the registered owner to whom the citation notice is to be sent.