Road accidents should be wake-up call for authorities
Multiple accidents recorded over the Crop Over weekend have caused the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA) to reiterate its call for legislative measures to be put in place to halt drinking and driving, distracted driving and driver fatigue on our nation’s roads.
Speaking to The Barbados Advocate recently, President of the BRSA, Sharmane Roland-Bowen, is adamant that those accidents should be a wake-up call for the authorities of the many dangers on our roads and the need to do all within their power to minimise them.
“Now while there is no sure evidence that alcohol is involved in any of the accidents that occur – as persons are still not tested – we have to use our common sense and we cannot put common sense in the back seat. We have to look at all the evidence and look at the collisions we are seeing as indications of what could happen. We cannot keep turning a blind eye to the implications and the realities of the injuries that persons are experiencing,” she said.
With that in mind, she is urging the Ministry of Transport and Works to state definitively when the amendments to the Road Traffic Act, which are to include breathalyser testing and the banning of cellphones while driving, will go to Parliament for approval.
Roland-Bowen added, “We were promised the amendments to the Road Traffic Act after the Budget and now we are hearing September, October. We are tired of all these promises, and no concrete action being taken. We cannot sit back and allow persons to continually be hurt and even be killed, and not agitate for change. It is no use just being in draft on paper or sitting in the Attorney General’s office.”
She made the point as she contended that rum producers and retailers of alcohol also have a major role to play in ensuring that those who consume alcoholic beverages do not get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
“We don’t want to hear only drink responsibly, we want them to come on board, really come on board and help push for the legislation to be enacted and enforced. They can show they care by ensuring that the persons who purchase and consume their alcohol get home safe so they can come and purchase it again,” she said.
The BRSA president added that a person does not have to be stumbling down drunk to be impaired, as even one alcoholic drink can hamper a person’s ability to drive safely. She is therefore calling on persons who know they are going to drink, to identify a designated driver. (JRT)