Government of Jamaica
Physical Disabled Persons who have in the past been refused licenses to drive based on the requirements of the Road Traffic Act Regulations of 1938 will soon be able to apply for a license, as the process is far advanced for the relevant paragraph of those Regulations to be amended.
Senator the Honourable Mark Golding, Minister of Justice who initiated the much-needed change of this law after reading about the plight of two disabled persons in their attempt to obtain drivers licenses at the Examination Depot, said “This was an area crying out for reform, so that persons with physical disabilities in Jamaica are facilitated rather than held back by laws which have not kept pace with modern thinking.”
After consultation with the Ministry of Transport Works & Housing and other requisite stakeholders such as the Island Traffic Authority, an amendment is being made to Regulation 46 of the aforesaid Act by deleting the words “both feet”.
The existing Regulation 46 provides that:
The diseases and disabilities which render a person ineligible to be issued with a driver’s license include:
- Epilepsy
- Insanity
- Defective vision to a degree corresponding to a standard of vision of less than 6/12 with glasses
- Aneurysm
- Angina pectoris
- Loss of both hands or both feet, or one hand and one foot
- Diseases of the nervous system giving rise to muscular in-coordination.
The Minister of Transport, Works and Housing has approved the regulations being so amended, and the amendment will come in force as soon as it has been signed and gazetted.
