The Office of The Children’s Advocate (OCA) is endorsing the commencement of today’s (October 7, 2013) island-wide clampdown by the Traffic Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force in conjunction with the Transport Authority,to rid the public transportation sector of heavily tinted vehicles and unauthorized audio visual equipment. The OCA recognizes that this initiative by itself will not completely solve the problem, but believes that this move will help to strengthen efforts to safe guard children from the inappropriate activities which the OCA understands are common place on many PPV vehicles. Many of the nation’s children have to utilize this form of transportation daily as they traverse to and from school and have to be protected from the incidents of profanity and pornography which reportedly occur on some of these vehicles.
“This move by the Police and the Transport Authority is fully endorsed by the OCA, as this will assist the authorities in being able to identify those persons in the public transportation sector who continue to contravene the Road Traffic Act and operate vehicles which foster an environment in which looseness is the order of the day. As a nation, we must get to that point where everyone of us fully understands that if we are to build a nation in which we can live, work, raise families and do business, we must embrace the notion of collective responsibility and play our part,” Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon-Harrison noted.
“Today’s clampdown exposed that there are drivers and conductors who deliberately transform buses into ‘party buses’ with extensive art work and equipment on board. Where these buses transport children, this practice is grossly unacceptable, as these are adults whom one would think ought to know better and encourage all children to conduct themselves in a befitting manner,” Mrs. Gordon-Harrison added.
The OCA is reiterating its call for a bus system for children in rural Jamaica in the medium term and for the Transport Authority to immediately institute measures aimed at specifically regulating bus operators who transport children.
