Ritika Pratap 
The Land Transport Authority will maintain its traffic operations and even strengthen them further, as past trends show that more road fatalities occur during the mid-year period.
Acting Chief Executive Irimaia Rokosawa says they will maintain their inter-agency collaborations with the Fiji Police Force to target offenses related to bad driving behavior.
Rokosawa says an analysis of the past five years done by the LTA shows an upsurge in fatalities in the middle of the year.
He says rather than waiting for the festive season, they need to re-strategize their resources to carry out similar operations as they did during the Easter long weekend.
“Rather than waiting for the end of the calendar year, probably it’s a bit too late and that’s why we are very thankful that this was a successful operation with the Fiji Police, and this is the starting of the mid-year operations.”
Rokosawa says while there has been a reduction in fatalities this year, it is too early to be optimistic.
“Last year, having 78 as the fatality numbers, that’s quite high. Right now, like I said, we are managing. The numbers is at a very minimal level, like I said, in terms of a 33 percent reduction, but honestly speaking, there’s still room to improve further.”
The LTA together with the Fiji Police Force is also coming down hard on illegal operations as this has been leading to unnecessary incidences.
