AS Barbados joins the rest of the world, from May 8-14, in commemorating the Fourth United Nations Global Road Safety Week, leaders of religious denominations across the island are being urged to encourage their congregants to pray and fast with a focus on road safety.
The call has come from President of the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA), Sharmane Roland-Bowen, who contended that with 14 road fatalities recorded for the year so far, society needs to take stock of the situation and see what can be done to ensure no one else loses their life on our roads this year. Her comments came as she told The Barbados Advocate that the theme of this year’s Global Road Safety Week is ‘Save Lives: #SlowDown’, and she is urging motorists in general to reduce their speed.
She made the point while noting that speed is said to be a predominating factor in most fatalities recorded worldwide. According to Roland-Bowen, international statistics show that one-third of the road fatalities in high-income countries are attributed to speed, and that figure is half, she stated, in respect of middle- and low-income countries.
“But I want to make it abundantly clear that speeding does not always necessarily mean faster than the speed limit, which is excessive speed; it is also driving too fast for the existing conditions. So that means if the road is wet and you do not slow down you are speeding; if you are approaching blind corners and curves and you do not slow down, you are also driving too fast for the conditions, and that is inappropriate speed. So there is a distinction that persons need to be aware of,” she indicated.
To that end, the road safety advocate is calling for officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force to be more vigilant and enforce the law where persons are caught speeding. Moreover, she said that the local legislation has to be looked at to ensure that persons can be fined or brought before the court for the use of inappropriate speed.
“In other countries, people are prosecuted for driving at inappropriate speeds and following vehicles too close and these are measures that can be put in place here to turn things around and make our roads safer. As an Association, we also believe that where there are blind corners and dangerous bends, advisory speed limits should be posted in those areas, not just the frequent bends signs, we would like to see signs with recommended speeds to alert motorists on how to safely manoeuvre that roadway,” she added.
Pointing out also that Barbados, like other countries, committed to be a part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, which is aimed at stabilising and reducing road traffic deaths around the world, she maintained that the country has a duty to contribute to the achievement of that goal. She said while the country is small, it can still play its part, but it will require all road users to get on board.
“We might be looking and saying that our record of fatalities is small compared to other countries, but in such a small society such as ours, each and every one of us is touched by someone who loses their life, and given our size, the possibility of it being someone we know, a relative, a workmate or a friend, is very real. So we need to play our part because 2020 is almost here,” she noted. (JRT)