BRSA President: Harsher penalties needed

The Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA) is reiterating its call for harsher penalties to be given to persons guilty of traffic offences that result in fatalities or serious injury to others.

 

President, Sharmane Roland-Bowen made the point as she reflected on the “mere $3 000 fine” that was imposed on a driver earlier this week, who was found guilty of dangerous driving, which resulted in the death of his passenger. She said that the ruling, being delivered just days before Barbados joined the rest of the world in celebrating the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which is commemorated today, is a clear indication that something has to be done within the justice system to ensure that more severe penalties are meted out to individuals whose actions claim the lives of others.

 

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate yesterday afternoon, Roland-Bowen lamented that our justice system seems to be failing innocent road users and victims of road traffic crashes. As such, she is calling on the authorities to ensure that such fines do not remain the norm in this country. 

 

“The courts are only giving persons a slap on the wrist; enough is not being done to deter persons from engaging in reckless driving behaviour that could result in a fatality. If you are going to penalise a person, make it a deterrent. You cannot put a value on life, and certainly not $3 000. But if you intend to put a value on it, make it something hefty, taking into consideration the productive years that were cut off from that person’s life,” she said.

 

The BRSA president added, “If our justice system is letting us down in this regard, a system that is supposed to protect us; along with the Government which has yet to introduce breathalyser testing, where does that leave the average road user? Government and the judiciary need to do more.”

 

She made the point while arguing that such minuscule fines do not encourage persons to make an extra effort to drive with care on our roads. In fact, she suggested that it is not farfetched to think that the small fines might actually encourage some unscrupulous persons to cause death by vehicles, rather than by a gun or some other type of weapon, as it would appear that the punishment is lighter.

 

“It is a crime and it is time that our system starts looking at how they treat road deaths. It is a crime –it has a perpetrator and it has a victim. It is a crime, lives are lost and blood is shed, and we need to see the seriousness in it. I would like penalties, even prison terms where it is merited. Until we send a strong message to these people it is not going to stop, and then the question that arises is who is next, because it could be any one of us,” she lamented.

 

Roland-Bowen is adamant that as we fast approach the end of the United Nations Decade of Action on Road Safety in 2020, concrete steps must be taken to reduce our road fatalities to zero. She said that to date there have been eight fatalities for the year. (JRT)