Use money to improve roads

President of the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA), Sharmane Roland-Bowen is calling for a portion of the road taxes which are paid to the State and fines collected by the courts for traffic offences, to be earmarked for road safety initiatives including road maintenance.

Speaking to The Barbados Advocate recently, she said such finances are needed to ensure that all road users, motorists and pedestrians alike, are kept safe. In that respect, she is suggesting that some of that money can be earmarked for road maintenance to help ensure that the potholes are addressed where they exist, and to prevent the problem from escalating again.

“The fines included in the amendments to the Road Traffic Act are quite hefty and some of that money can be put to good use helping to maintain our roads and undertaking other road safety initiatives. We cannot sit back and say all other countries have potholes, we in Barbados have potholes and we want them taken care of because we cannot afford the costs of fixing our vehicles because of damage caused by bad roads,” she said.

Roland-Bowen added, “Things in Barbados are so expensive – the vehicles are expensive, the parts are expensive and in many respects a vehicle is a person’s most valuable asset and they have a right to drive on roads which do not cause necessary damage. So the authorities have a duty to ensure our roads are kept in a reasonable condition and failing to do that is negligence on their part.”

With that in mind, she said that the BRSA has continued to erect flags across the island to warn drivers where the most dangerous potholes are located.

“While we commend the Ministry of Transport and Works for the efforts they have been making to fix the potholes we know that many still exist and so we are still erecting our flags to help drivers avoid those holes and prevent damage to their vehicles. We recently put a few out Forde Road, Britton Hill and Sargeants Village, Christ Church,” she said.

Roland-Bowen continues to appeal to the public to report the potholes to the BRSA so that they can be identified and flagged. She is also asking persons where the potholes have been fixed to let them know so the flags can be removed and placed at other locations.

“We are maintaining the flagging process because this is a problem that is not going to go away unless it is properly addressed, so we are going to continue putting the flag because as long as those potholes are there people’ lives are in danger,” she added. (JRT)