11 April 2007
Of the 439 vehicles stopped on Thursday 5 April in a road check in St John’s, two cars were impounded, three foreign registered vehicles were found to be unregistered in their country of origin and the drivers did not have licences, 16 were issued with defect notices and one person was driving without valid insurance.
Officers from Driver and Vehicle Standards, (DVS) coordinated this multi agency road check near
St John’s Church, involving officers from States of Jersey Police,
Customs and Immigration and the Honorary Police of
St John
.
The primary purpose of the check was to detect and deter drivers from using unroadworthy vehicles and to ensure that those driving were doing so with the correct licence and insurance. Additionally, Customs and Immigration were ensuring that the drivers of diesel vehicles were using the correct fuel.
Two cars were impounded due to defective bodywork, and one of those vehicles will be inspected further and a report submitted to the Police for consideration of prosecution.
Of the seven foreign registered vehicles stopped three were found to be unregistered in their country of origin and the drivers did not have licences. These drivers will need to pass a driving test in
Jersey
if they intend to continue to drive.
The drivers of 16 further vehicles were issued with defect notices requiring them to present their vehicles at DVS with the defects rectified. Defects included: bodywork; lighting, oil leaks and tyres.
One person was found to be driving without a valid insurance disc and 34 vehicles had their fuel tested. All were found to be using the correct diesel.
Alan Muir
, Inspector of Motor Traffic, said, “This road check was an excellent example of the co-operation that exists between the different agencies and it was pleasing to note that in general the majority of vehicles were in good condition. Many of the defects spotted in the check should have been obvious to the drivers if they had bothered to check their tyres and lights now and again. As a result of the check and the repairs done to these vehicles, the drivers will be a little bit poorer but they, and other road users will be safer”.
Transport and Technical Services Minister, Deputy Guy de Faye commented, “It’s unfortunate that a number of offenders were caught out, but very encouraging that the vast majority of drivers who were stopped and inspected had fully roadworthy vehicles. It underlines the effectiveness and importance of our local road checks. It’s the Jersey way of doing things and it gets results at a much lower cost when compared to alternative vehicle safety initiatives such as the UK’s “MOT” (Ministry of Transport Test Certificate).”
gov.je