DANCING WITH DEATH

The Easter weekend’s tally of six murders and six road fatalities are grim indicators of a continuing loss of respect for human life and the lack of an effective Police presence on the nation’s roadways. There is a third factor, that of too many persons still prepared either to drive when their judgement is impaired by alcohol or to take a chance on speeding. It is clearly not enough, for example, for Assistant Commissioner of Police, Nazmool Hosein, to say that he had given an advisory to the public on how to behave on the roadways. Nor for him to do a tacit Pontius Pilate on behalf of the Service with the comment: “This was sheer carelessness. The loss of life could have been curtailed or even avoided.”

Of interest is that ACP Hosein would add: “One of the deaths was due to alcohol, while others were because of speed and dangerous driving.” Hosein, albeit unintentionally, revealed that there clearly were no Police patrols on the roads travelled by the drivers of the vehicles involved in the fatal accidents. Had there been Police patrols then someone under the influence of alcohol and driving a car would have been readily detected and stopped. So, too, we believe would have been the case of speeding and dangerous driving. “We will continue to educate the public on road safety,” ACP Hosein declared. Such education by itself, however, is not enough. Errant drivers must be caught and punished. And the way to effect this is through the assigning of officers of the Police mobile section on the roads, particularly on holidays and moreso on long holiday weekends such as Easter.

Mosquito Creek is one of the areas in Trinidad where many motorists either speed in isolation or engage in drag racing. We wish to stress that we are in no way inferring that the driver of the car which crashed into the Godineau Bridge suggests that had Police been patrolling the area corrective action would have been taken which would have averted the death of the victim of the accident, Linda Lamonte. Because Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain has been witness to fatal and/or otherwise serious accidents within the past 12 months or so, the Police should have had officers assigned to the roadway over the Easter weekend. This too may have averted the fatal accident involving a motorist whose car crashed into a tree, suggesting a speed above the 30 mph limit.

ACP Hosein is correct when he points out that “road safety is everybody’s business, not Police alone.” Nevertheless, many recent accidents could have been avoided if the Police had been more vigilant. There will always be persons who are prepared to engage in a dance of death, even at immense risk to others. Where their common sense fails it is up to the Police to protect them and innocent bystanders as well as other motorists. Perhaps the time for talking has passed and we should look more seriously at the penalties for speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol.