Drivers to face disciplinary actions

Two notorious drivers who caused havoc on the roads recently will appear in a ‘Show Cause Disciplinary Hearing’ on the  27th of April to justify why the Land Transport Authority (LTA) must not suspend or cancel their driving license.

In a statement issued by the authority, appearing before LTA’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Naisa Tuinaceva will be the 40-year-old driver who almost caused a catastrophic chemical spill in Wainibuka River when the truck which was carrying a consignment of Sodium Cyanide veered off-road at Savuliliwa Wailotua Kings Road in Wainibuka.

The Authority has booked the driver for driving a motor vehicle carrying hazardous material without a ‘Dangerous Goods License’.

LTA has also suspended his employer’s (a heavy haulage company) ‘Dangerous Goods Permit’ for one year for breaching the conditions of the ‘Dangerous Goods Permit’.

Mr. Tuinaceva said the Authority wants to ensure that people can travel on the road without fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, hence the reason for the monthly show cause.

Bread and butter issues should be treasured but these drivers have shown they don’t care and that is why we are taking them to task.

If a driver is a habitual offender, it shows that the person can’t learn from previous bookings, and he is not fit to drive. These are the type of people we are trying to remove from our roads because they are disrespectful and do not value human lives.

Speeding, dangerous driving, reckless or careless driving, use of mobile phone while driving, driving a defective vehicle, failure to wear seatbelt while driving, running the red light are some of the major offences that are being committed on our roads.

The second case of show cause involves the 51-year-old driver who was driving the truck from which a container fell onto a vehicle in Edinburgh Drive in Suva earlier this month.

LTA has put his driving license on freeze, meaning he cannot drive a motor vehicle until further notice.

Meanwhile, 31 drivers (both Public Service Vehicle and private driving license holders) have appeared in the Show Cause in the first quarter of this year, the youngest being a 17-year-old while the oldest was aged 62.

The 17-year-old who holds a Provisional driving license was issued a final warning for not complying with the conditions of the provisional driving license, and he can lose his provisional driving license should he reoffended within the next 12 months. His offenses include exceeding the speed limit and driving without a driving license.

Twenty-nine other drivers were issued final warnings while the driving license of a Western Division based driver was suspended for 11 months for committing multiple traffic offenses. The majority of the drivers were in their 30s while some were in their 20s, mid-40s, 50s and two were in their early sixties.

The public is encouraged to report bad driver behavior on free texting code 582.