The nation needs to know we are into “Road Safety Month”

Nov 09, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
“Emphasised that Government sees it as a citizen’s duty to be responsible, noting that having responsible citizenry is not something that is abstract or too philosophical to become reality.” The above quote, with great respect, certainly achieves being abstract, and hardly a philosophy relevant to the mayhem occurring on the roads, partly as a result of the rigid stance of the ‘uniformed citizenry’ who are responsible for the palpable mismanagement of road transportation a substantive contributory factor to the destruction of lives and limbs.
Not the only evidence of this attitude of “non” if not (ir) responsibility is the very proclamation by the subject Minister in curiously disconnecting the ‘official citizenry’ from ‘civilian citizenry’ (alive or dead). One tries hard to grapple with the annual repetition of the data (increase/decrease) deafeningly indicating that they defy intelligent analysis, say, as to trends: locations; poor road engineering; lighting; wrong or no signal (there are still one way streets without signs); time (night or day), weather; mechanical defects; and perhaps most critically, the easy access to licences by untrained drivers, particularly of public transportation.
Meanwhile, the captive audience being addressed – the National Road Safety Council – does not appear to respond to the insistence on their being responsible. For annually out of their collective (or selective) wisdom comes a deafening silence. When the 2016 lot was installed recently, they heard shouts about fatalities being the worst in the Caribbean. Yet it is not known so far whether any of the parties involved have thought of following through on the logic of going to learn what it is the Caribbean is doing better.
Ha! The following question is attributed to the subject Minister “What should be done?” The quick answer is that the Council and the ‘uniformed citizenry’ at a workshop that must include, among others, owners of public transport, insurance companies, the licensing authorities, Taxi and Minibus Drivers’ Associations’, plus doctors who must tend to the uncounted injured and those deformed for life, must deliberate for two/three days (and nights even), and develop a Safe Road Transportation Plan.
The exercise may well involve inspections of various areas, on which practical evaluations can be made of risks and dangers. One thing will be quickly noted – the infrequency of speed limit signs, which really are not effective, particularly since the notices indicate the same limits for all types of vehicles. I really don’t think I am going too fast. I have said all this before to the ‘uniformed citizenry’ who continue to disclaim responsibility.
E.B. John

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