Photo By Heather Johnson | Beginning this month, drivers should expect to see military policemen asking for...... read more read more
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Beginning this month, military policemen and Japanese security guards will be enforcing license regulations for all Status of Forces Agreement personnel and local nationals entering Marine Corps installations on Okinawa.
These precautions are being taken to ensure Marines and SOFA personnel do not violate licensing responsibilities and restrictions, such as unauthorized use of vehicles or driving without a proper SOFA driver’s license, valid Japanese Compulsory Insurance or Property Damage Insurance, said 1st Lt. Daniel V. Mora, deputy operations officer at Provost Marshal’s Office, Headquarters and Service Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Butler.
Most of the accidents we have are by inexperienced drivers breaking license regulations, said Staff Sgt. Carl. E. Green, watch commander with PMO here.
“To prevent this from happening, we plan on periodically (and randomly) checking drivers for their SOFA driver’s license. This will give us the opportunity to detect the ones who are breaking the rules,” he said.
Aside from inexperienced drivers, military policemen have also found that drivers are driving without the proper SOFA permit.
For example, “service members will take (a local national’s car) and drive them around, even though they don’t have the required operator’s permit,” said Mora.
According to Green, SOFA personnel are only authorized to drive vehicles with an “Y”, “A” or “E” on the far left side of the license plate, while local nationals have a hiragana symbol in the same place. An exception to this policy, according to PMO officials, are rental cars. The rental agreement authorizes this exception.
“I believe the numbers (of people driving illegally) will begin to go down once the random checks begin,” said Green. “Once the word gets out that they’ve started, I don’t think people will want to take the chance of getting caught.”
The upcoming checks will affect all SOFA members driving on Okinawa, added Mora.
“I think it’s good that they are going to check for licenses with these incidents going on,” said Leticia Gonzalez, a properly licensed SOFA driver. “I hope after some time those violators will begin to follow the rules.”
The appropriate measures will be taken for all violators who are caught driving unauthorized vehicles, without a SOFA driver’s license or loaning their vehicle to unlicensed drivers, according to Green.
For more information contact the Provost Marshal’s Office at 645-7441.
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2011 18:59 |
| Story ID: | 64763 |
| Location: | CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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