Too much death on the roads

“The only acceptable statistic is zero! My husband and I have experienced this kind of loss.

Our only son died at age 25 so we know the pain, the emptiness and the void that can never be filled.” She continued, “The challenges we face as a nation today is many and varied and in some cases even fearful but this challenge of eradicating carnage on our roads, we are determined to win. There is hope and with your collective support, we will win one step at a time.” Inglefield was yesterday speaking at the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims march around the Queen’s Park Savannah. Celebrated on the third Sunday in November internationally, Trinidad and Tobago’s Arrive Alive planned a walk and ride around the Queen’s Park Savannah for World Remembrance Day.

According to Inglefield, the event was very successful as hundreds of people including family members of accident victims supported the cause; many of them wearing colourful T-shirts in remembrance of their loved ones.

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan, in a feature address, stated that he too had lost close relatives to road accidents and shared the collective pain of other persons who experiences such loss. Sinanan explained that if each driver in TT pledges to always follow the rules of the road, “no drinking and driving, no texting and talking on the phone and no speeding, we can overall decrease road accidents and fatalities.” He said the Ministry is now involved in legislative reform and other initiatives to support and improve safety on the road. “In this regard, the proposed Demerit Points System initiative which allows for points to be assigned to a driver’s licence is being given active consideration.

The Ministry is at the stage when this Policy for the Amendment of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act is available for comment on our web site,” Minister Sinanan said.

Sinanan said the Traffic Management Branch is engaged in numerous projects that will continue to help make road travel safer especially for non-drivers.

These include the increased presence of pedestrian crossings in urbanized areas. “Two examples of this work include pedestrian crossing facilities in Curepe and San Juan at the Priority Bus Route and Eastern Main Road.” He continued, “Recently we installed pedestrian head signals, bells and improved signage to assist walkers in these two areas and were able to re-paint approximately 180KM of road markings on major roadways that were faded tremendously.” Additionally, he said, in the near future, the Traffic Division will focus its efforts on further safety initiatives that will include: Resigning our Highways with informational signs that provide directions, placing road studs in high risk areas to illuminate the roadways for greater safety, placing New Jersey slip form barriers between Orange Grove and Piarco to separate lanes of traffic, establishing uninterrupted power supply for our traffic signals, contributing to Red Light Enforcement Legislation, installing nine Spot Speed Enforcement Cameras, assisting TT Police Service with the procurement of additional Speed Guns, installing special Accessible Pedestrian Signal devices that help the visually impaired to cross the street safely.