Tonga’s Parliament has today passed a new transport legislation requiring drivers and passengers in the front seat to wear seat belt, the Minister of Transport Akosita Lavulavu has posted on Facebook this evening.
Drivers caught using their mobile phones behind the wheel will be fined.
The new legislation would allow visitors who hold either a New Zealand, Australian or United States driver’s licence to drive in the kingdom without applying for a conversion license.
The approval of the law came after the Traffic Bill 2020 was submitted to Parliament in May. It said that heavily tinted front windows in vehicles would also be banned.
The law has made it an offense if Police found somebody leaning or hanging out of windows and to have children in a moving vehicle sitting on someone’s lap.
The law also included one that will see heavy trucks being restricted from certain roads in Central Nuku’alofa.
