Warmington wrong! - Toll road was gazetted

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

Everald Warmington, South West St Catherine member of parliament, usually arms himself with the facts whenever he speaks in the nation's Parliament.

However, checks by The Gleaner yesterday revealed that the controversial MP could have misled the House when he boldly declared that the toll road was never gazetted.

He argued that motorists could mount a successful legal challenge against the police who sought to prosecute them for breaches of the Road Traffic Act on the toll road.

Information gathered from senior parliamentary staff yesterday revealed that the Toll Road Act was gazetted in March 2002.

Appeared on march 4, 2002

Under the caption, 'Jamaica Gazette extraordinary number 90', the Toll Road Act was gazetted on March 4, 2002.

The legislation was implemented retroactively with a start-up date from November 21, 2001.

Parliamentarians on both sides of the political divide, including prominent legal minds, failed to challenge Warmington on Tuesday when he charged that the police had no authority to prosecute motorists who violated the Road Traffic Act

"If it were a public road, it ought to be gazetted," said Warmington. "(However), the toll road is a private road, which was never gazetted, yet you have the police on that road each time with speed traps and issuing tickets ... they have no such authority."

Yesterday when The Gleaner contacted Warmington, he maintained that the toll road was a private road, but expressed surprise that it was gazetted.

Following Warmington's comment in Parliament, head of the Police Traffic Division, Senior Superintendent of Police Radcliffe Lewis, described the MP's comments as unfortunate.

Lewis warned that motorists who exceeded the speed limit or caused accident because of careless driving on the roadway or the toll road would be charged.