LTA Acting CEO Irimaia Rokosaqwa appears on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan

The exemption for tints on ministerial and diplomatic vehicles is for safety and security reasons and this is not for public service vehicles.

This was highlighted by the Acting Chief Executive Officer for Land Transport Authority Irimaia Rokosawa while speaking on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan, who says the mandatory requirement for tints is to have 70 percent light penetration.

The CEO further says when they come across public service vehicles with tinted windows, drivers are told to strip them off or are issued infringement notices.

Rokosawa says they are also working closely with the Ministry of Finance on certain ministerial vehicles no longer having exemptions for tints to be removed as Prime Minster Sitiveni Rabuka had earlier stated that after coming into government, all government vehicle tints would be removed.

When questioned about flashing lights from cars, Rokosawa says security lights are given for emergency purposes and should not be abused. He says if such cases arise, the driver will be taken to task.

The CEO also urges the general public to notify them about such incidents.

Acting Chief Executive Officer of Land Transport Authority Irimaia Rokosawa says they have considered the issue of methamphetamine being taken by some PSV drivers and are working within their stakeholder forums to look at their legislation for the introduction of mandatory and random drug tests.

He highlighted this on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan when questioned on the amount of public service vehicles involved in horrific accidents and a call for mandatory drug tests on drivers.

Rokosawa says they also want to introduce these tests in the preliminary phase when drivers are applying for their PSV license, which is nothing new as it has been done in other countries as well.

The Acting CEO further says some of these accidents are very unusual and happen in places where it could have been easily avoided, therefore they are having discussions with the Fiji Police Force on ways to introduce these into the laws and enforcement exercise.

He says they will soon do drug tests on drivers who already hold licenses and are working closely with the ministry.

Rokosawa also says that there are around 147,000 vehicles registered in Fiji and about 350,000 license holders.

The Acting CEO says in terms of their enforcement they have 95 officers and 1 enforcement officer looking after 1,500 vehicles.

He says 26 officers are in their overloading team, 23 are in the e-ticketing and 46 are in their general enforcement.

Rokosawa says there are about 9,837 truck and traders and 1 officer enforces around 378 truck and traders while for e-ticketing there are about 1,188 buses and 1 officer enforces about 52 buses.

He says in terms of their legislation they don't have the powers to arrest and LTA only feels safe when they work closely with the police because, sometimes their officers get assaulted while carrying out their duties on the ground, especially during the festive season as there will be a lot of merry making and alcohol consumption.

There will be 24/7 operations on the roads by the Land Transport Authority and the Police as LTA has reintroduced the 24/7 operations and officers are working on three shifts.

This has been highlighted by Acting Chief Executive Officer for LTA Irimaia Rokosawa during fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan when questioned on the non-visibility of LTA officers on the roads.

Rokosawa says there was less LTA visibility on the roads as they did not have enough budget allocated by the previous government and could not pay their officers.

He says all fees and fines collected by the LTA are deposited to the government fund accounts.

Rokosawa says no revenue is kept with the LTA and their operations are funded through the operating budget on an annual basis.

The Acting CEO further says with around a $2 million increase in their budget by the government this year, they will be able to re-strategise and work within their given resources.

Rokosawa says this is to ensure that they solve the issues of road fatalities and carry out their functions well through enforcement regulating, customer service and road safety measures.

He says there are 72 road fatalities recorded this year compared to 38 in the same period last year and 68 major road accidents compared to 36 last year which is mainly caused by speeding and drunk driving.