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"content": "Public Works and Housing, and I am sure that we will then agree on the harmonization of the various bits and pieces before we then look at it here, in the Committee Stage. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the clauses all the way to the very end are about fines and enhancing one or the other. But two new issues have come up that I just need to highlight. Clause 42 seeks to insert basically a new section which requires the drivers of public service vehicles to undergo an eye test as a condition for renewal of a driving licence. You will realize from the analysis that we have, that 84 per cent of the accidents on our roads are caused by behaviour of drivers. It could be because of being drunk, tired, stressed or just bad behaviour. But it is also because some of them do not quite see clearly what is happening. Some of us have now realized that unless you are tested for your eyesight, you will always assume that your eyesight is good until you are forced to go for the spectacles. But it is a reality of life that as we grow older, we need to get these. So, this will be one of the mandatory conditions for people, especially those who will be driving public service vehicles. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other new addition to this, which is not in the current Act, comes under Clause 47, which is inserting a new section that introduces a system through which a person who holds a driving licence will accumulate what we call demerit points, if convicted for a specific offence. So, if you are stopped and convicted because of, for example, not having headlamps on your vehicles, you will have six points knocked off your driving licence. If you are driving a defective vehicle, you will have another two points knocked off. Failure to obey commands by a police officer will be another two points knocked off. Basically, the whole point of this is that once you have all these points being deducted from you, and you get ten or more, but less than 14, you could be disqualified from holding a driving licence for a period of six months during which time you will then be expected to have recovered and confessed all your sins. After six months, you can then go back to driving. If you accumulate more, then you are suspended. It is a practice that is working in other countries, because at the end of it all, fining people or jailing them will not necessarily make them better drivers. But this will give an incentive for people to drive well. This point system will also affect your insurance cover. It is part of creating some behavioral patterns in some of the drivers. You will be able to see who is a repeat offender or those who fail to obey the law, not because they wanted to, but because of the circumstances. This point system will now allow us to influence the behaviour of the drivers by themselves, because none of them wants to be caught in this act. So, that is a new introduction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, basically, again, we have looked through several other issues that have been raised by stakeholders. Since the publication of this Bill, other stakeholders have come and said that perhaps this Bill has not addressed the issue of school transport. We have seen vehicles with school kids having accidents and members of the public have sent us some amendments that we have looked at and are happy with. We will be processing them jointly with the Committee and introduce them during the Committee of the whole House. Again, there are lots of small bits and pieces that people have brought in. Some are administrative and some legislative. We will be taking this on board. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, since most of the debate had taken place within the framework of the first Bill, this is additional to what was already discussed. We have taken note of the deliberations of Members and will be, again, looking at it"
}