The case of Leonardo Mateo Peña is really one for the books. He had accused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (AMET) of an abuse of power. As a result the AMET investigated his case. The findings: the plaintiff had received 169 tickets for violations since 2011.
General Frener Bello Arias, head of the AMET, ordered the AMET investigators to probe deeper. They discovered that 129 of the infractions issued were real, and in order to prove this to the local media they presented the 30 AMET agents who had issued these infractions.
Mateo Peña then admitted that he committed the violations. His argument is that perhaps God had used him in order for his case to carry the message for safe driving to other drivers. In a rambling quote, Mateo Peña said “… I will not lie, it is true that I have these (the infractions) I realize this and I agree with the work that the general is doing and I admire him for it and after this I realize that the AMET is doing its job.”
General Bello said that if the regulations that are part of Laws 63-17 were now on the books and being enforced, the driver’s license for Mateo Peña would be suspended.
Diario Libre in its coverage on the Mateo Peña story recalled that last July 2017 they had reported on a study that revealed that in the first five months of the year, the AMET had issued traffic tickets for an amount of RD$166 million to nationwide drivers. However more than 90% of these fines have gone unpaid and some are even rescinded.
The Erwin Walter Palm Foundation at the time estimated that the state would have received approximately RD $505 million pesos if the traffic fines had been paid. The study explains that a driver could accumulate 500 violations and still continue to drive vehicles. For instance, as of May 2013 driver Kevis Manuel Jimenez Nuñez had accumulated 474 traffic violations.
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Diario Libre
7 Dias
29 November 2017
