WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao continues to face major shortcomings in traffic enforcement, with half of the recommendations issued by the Law Enforcement Council nearly a decade ago still not implemented.
The Council recently reviewed progress on 20 recommendations originally made in 2017. Only nine have been fully implemented, while ten remain unimplemented and one has been partially carried out.
The findings come as Curaçao continues to record high numbers of traffic violations and accidents. More than 1,000 cases a year involve drivers leaving the scene of an accident, while thousands of motorists involved in collisions are unable to produce valid insurance documents.
According to the Council, several important improvements remain outstanding within the Curaçao Police Force.
Enforcement targeting speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, running red lights and failure to use seat belts has still not been structurally embedded within police operations.
Formal performance indicators are also lacking, while the results of traffic enforcement operations are not systematically evaluated. As a result, authorities have limited ability to determine which enforcement measures are effective or where strategies need to be adjusted.
Another recommendation that remains unfinished is the introduction of a digital system capable of systematically recording and analyzing traffic controls and violations. Eight years after the recommendation was made, the system is still in the design phase.
The Council also found that cooperation between the Ministry of Justice, the police and the Ministry of Traffic, Transportation and Urban Planning remains too dependent on individual initiatives rather than being structurally organized.
Police have nevertheless stepped up individual enforcement campaigns. One of the most visible has been Kita Tur, under which vehicles are taken off the road when motorists fail to meet legal requirements.
During the first four months of that campaign, police seized 725 vehicles. At one point, more than 46 percent of inspected vehicles were found not to have all required documents.
The Council's findings suggest, however, that individual enforcement campaigns have not yet developed into a fully integrated, information-driven traffic enforcement strategy.
The continuing problems therefore extend beyond the behavior of individual motorists. Years after authorities were advised to strengthen enforcement, Curaçao still lacks some of the systems, performance measurements and coordinated structures needed to determine where violations occur, measure the effectiveness of enforcement and develop a sustained response to unsafe behavior on the island's roads.