The Road Traffic Department’s (RTD) system at present is “inadequate,” this according to Minister of State for Transport Hope Strachan who gave the Bahama Journal an update on the process towards revolutionising the RTD into a fully automated system.

The state minister said that at this stage a proposal is being drafted for Cabinet’s review.

“It will mean so much in terms of the efficiency of the RTD and as well the safety of the industry, this whole car titling system where you have the integration between The Bahamas Customs Department, the insurance industry, the police, all of these agencies will now be involved in the licencing process and procedure and we will have a computer system that will be integrated where from the time a vehicle hits the dock here in The Bahamas until the life end of that vehicle,” she said.

“So you will always know the owner, you will know when the ownership changes hand, the system will be such that the police will find it easier to operate because it will have a licencing system where the numbers correspond with their data base, so they have a much easier job policing the roads of The Bahamas.”

Ms. Strachan was unable to provide a price tag however she estimated that this overhaul of the Road Traffic Department is estimated to cost millions of dollars.

She said that so far the ministry has held consultations with various experts and the Ministry of Finance have assisted with narrowing down those companies that would provide the service with programs that best suit the entire country.

Ms. Strachan further emphasised the implementation of this automation system for the RTD, she said that it is critical to aiding the crack down of crimes in relation to vehicles.

“The stakeholders in the car industry are of the view that this would help to ameliorate a lot of the problems that we have been having in that area and we are anxious to implement it because all of the studies also reveal that it will make the RTD much more efficient and the documents which are produced by the RTD like licences, inspection certificates and the likes, all of those things will be made more safer in the way they are actually made.”

She was unable to say exactly when this draft will be presented to Cabinet but she expressed optimism with it being completed soon.

Overall, Ms. Strachan maintained that the ministry has outgrown the current system.

“In a lot of instances, we have equipment that is outdated and its difficult of us to keep them operational so you have to continually change parts and sometimes they break down at the peak periods when they’re overworked and you find that sometimes we have to share equipment with the Family Islands, the current system is clearly inadequate and I would say that it’s fair to say that it’s time for us to actually to change the system and become more technologically advanced.”

Earlier this year, while in parliament, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna Martin described the current RTD system as antiquated.

According to the minister, RTD is the third revenue earner in the country and for this reason it is critical to reform this area.