ONE OF THE functions of the judges is to interpret the laws and make pronouncements when they are being breached.
This is what the Court of Appeal did this month in the case of a motorist who was issued with a traffic ticket for careless driving. The ticket was issued in February last year for the motorist to appear in the Traffic Court in Mandeville, Manchester.
When the motorist appeared in court on April 14, 2005, he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The case was put off to August 11, 2005 when attorney-at-law Debayo Adedipe took a preliminary objection that the motorist should be discharged because a traffic ticket could not effectively commence proceedings for careless driving. He said only a summons could be issued for careless driving.
Resident Magistrate Marva McDonald-Bishop referred the case to the Court of Appeal for a ruling on the issue.
The Court of Appeal was asked to answer several questions, one of which was "whether a charge of careless driving can properly be commenced by the issuance of a traffic ticket. The Court interpreted sections of the Road Traffic Act and in its ruling made it abundantly clear that a motorist must be issued with a summons to attend court on a charge of careless driving. A summons is signed by a Justice of the Peace.
CASES PENDING
The ruling means that for more serious traffic offences such as careless driving and dangerous driving, a motorist must be warned for prosecution and then issued with a summons to attend court.
The police will now have to issue summonses to motorists who have cases pending in the courts for such offences.
Section 38 (a) of the Road Traffic Act states that where a person is prosecuted for an offence under sections 26, 27 or 32 of the Act, the person shall not be convicted unless "he was warned at the time the offence was committed that the question of prosecuting him for an offence under some one or other of the provisions aforesaid would be taken into consideration or (b) within 14 days of the commission of the offence a summons for the offence was served on him.
Section 116 of the Road Traffic Act sets out the offences for which traffic tickets can be issued and careless driving and dangerous driving are not included among the offences.
The Court of Appeal has sent back the case to the Mandeville Resident Magistrate's Court for the motorist to be issued with a summons for careless driving.
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