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Government Urged To Veto
Reforms To The New Ley de Tránsito
The viceministra de Transportes, Rosaura
Montero and the Director de Tránsito, German
Marín, are on the same page when it comes to
the reforms to the new Ley de Tránsito, the
government of Oscar Arias should use its
power of the veto to send the reforms back
to the drawing board.
According to Montero, this is strictly a
decision of the Poder Executivo (Executive
branch of the government) to overturn the
approval of the legislative assembly
removing the point system and reducing the
fines of the law that went into effect on
March 1, 2010, after more than six months of
postponement.
Both the Tránsito director and vice-ministra
say that the law without the point system
and high fines does instill the changes
first envisioned in the law and that the
reforms that come before the legislature for
second and final vote, possibly today, be
not allowed to go into effect.
The same legislative assembly that is making
reforms to the law approved it in December
2008.
The law, which is in effect and will
continue until the reforms are approved and
accepted by the government and published in
La Gaceta, calls for a point system where
drivers lose them until the license is
suspended temporarily and permanent for
repeat offenders, as well as severe fines
that force a social change in Costa Rica.
The reforms are expected to make it to the
legislative floor as early as today.
However, the voting may not occur just yet
as the commission reviewing the law says it
found constitutional errors.
Costa Rican president Oscar Arias is being
asked to veto the reforms, which in effect
would send the proposals back to the
legislature, which would be left up to the
next assembly that takes over from the
current on May 8th with the change of
government.
Forming part of the new legislative assembly
is Karla González, the former ministra de
Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) that was
instrumental in pushing through the new law,
but resigned before it went into effect.
For his part, the fiscal general de la
República, Francisco Dall'Anese, warns that
if the reforms to the traffic law go into
effect the courts will be swamped with
appeals of drunk drivers who have been fined
and convicted.
Dall'Anese says the Sala Tercera will be
loaded with case files and that the approval
of the reforms is a step back in all that
has been achieved in reducing drunk driving.
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