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Motorists who fail to abide by road laws will face tougher penalties, as authorities move to curb a growing road safety crisis that claimed 83 lives last year.

This has been reiterated by Land Transport Authority Chief Executive Irimaia Rokosawa, who said that increased fines, expanded use of speed cameras and stricter licensing are being enforced in response

The Land Transport Authority says increased fines, expanded use of speed cameras and stricter licensing rules are being enforced in response to rising fatalities, with speeding and reckless driving continuing to dominate traffic offences.

Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu said dangerous behavior on the roads remains widespread despite ongoing awareness campaigns.

“These are all the prevalent offenses that are topping the list in traffic offenses that we have registered. So I’m just requesting for the drivers to be mindful again on how they conduct themselves on the road. The rules are there, just adhere to the law, and adhere to the rules.”

New figures presented by the Fiji Police Force at the National Transport Infrastructure Consultative Forum show last year was the deadliest on record, with 83 confirmed fatalities.

Land Transport Authority Chief Executive Officer Irimaia Rokosawa says the increase represents a sharp rise from the previous year.

“As far as I understand, come the end of the calendar year 2025, the total number of fatalities as per our current record is about 83. Those are the confirmed numbers. This is an increase from 66 in the last calendar year.”

Rokosawa states that speeding remains the primary cause of fatal crashes, prompting heavy investment in enforcement technology.

“The main cause of fatalities so far is still on speed.”

He says while static speed cameras have improved compliance in specific locations, drivers continue to exceed limits elsewhere.

“The issue with our current static cameras, most of the drivers, we know where their respective locations are. Through observations and public notifications, we’ve seen that drivers tend to comply with the speed limits as they near the static cameras, but they continue speeding over the legal limits, as and when they are on the routes that doesn’t have static cameras.”

Rokosawa adds strengthen deterrence, Cabinet approved increased speeding fines last October, with penalties rising across all speeding categories. Authorities say the previous penalties were ineffective in changing driver behavior.

“We’ve seen that the current speed limits penalties, it’s not a deterrent, it’s more like an occupational hazard rather than a deterrent measure.”

He states that addition to higher fines, the Land Transport Authority is expanding the use of portable speed cameras and introducing changes to provisional licensing, including longer licence penalization durations and stricter penalties for repeat offenders.

“So that’s why the land transport authority is investing heavily on portable speed camera’s to address continuous breach in terms of exceeding speed limits and also thankful for the Government of the day for supporting land transport authority in terms of the increasing of speeding fines.”

Authorities say enforcement alone will not reduce the death toll, warning that lives will continue to be lost unless drivers take responsibility and comply with road laws.

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