Home
If you have lost someone in a road traffic incident, this bereavement booklet may help.
Can you text and drive? Check out this video.
ART & ESSAY COMPETITION
View the rules of the Art & Essay Competition
Download the registration form for the Art & Essay Competition.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
July 1, 2011
Subject: 100 to Die on the Roads over the next 6 months in Trinidad & Tobago
The presentation by UWI Professor Dr. Godfrey St. Bernard on road traffic crashes in Trinidad & Tobago describes an almost state of equilibrium in road traffic fatalities with the road traffic fatality figure remaining above 200 for the past seven years. The recent incident whereby an overturned gas tanker led to the shut down of our major north-south highway for almost 5 hours lays testament to the importance of road safety systems in the country. Even with increases in punitive measures, such as higher fines attached to traffic offences and the introduction of the breathalyser to target alcohol impaired driving, road traffic incidents continue to claim the lives of the citizens of Trinidad & Tobago at an estimated average of one road fatality every 1.8 days. However the most important issue Professor St. Bernard's research highlights is the lack of any prioritization in either planning or implementation of intervention strategies by authorities aimed at trend reversal to deal with this epidemic. The UN WHO has declared 2011-2020 the "Decade of Action for Road Safety" mandating member countries to commence implementation of road safety risk management systems for road transport planning, policies and budgeting with the aim of saving an estimated 5 million lives worldwide. Since 2005 over 1,200 lives have perished on our Nation's roads and we are presently on target to meet 100 road deaths for the first half of 2011. The question is "what are we going to do to save the lives of the 100 people that are predicted to die in road traffic incidents over the next 6 months"? It is our hope that new initiatives such as the Ministry of Works and Transport's state of the art National Traffic Management System (NTMS) and the TTPS's plan for development of a National Traffic Safety Plan, with Canadian traffic safety consultant Mavis Johnson, will now permit a structured approach to collision reduction strategies. In the meantime traffic law enforcement agencies are in dire need of legislation to support the use of speed laser guns and the implementation of the Traffic Offence Penalty Point System (which has already been passed) as a crucial measure aimed at traffic offender deterrence and identification of high risk drivers. We at Arrive Alive are convinced that it is only through the establishment of a lead agency such as a National Road Safety Council that effective and sustainable life saving measures can be implemented, by facilitating inter-agency coordination and tri-sector participation.
Brent Batson
President
Arrive Alive
Decade of Action
View the web site for the Decade of Action
Make Roads Safe
The Campaign for Global Road Safety
Manage Traffic, Manage Crime
Traffic, in our opinion, has become the most important arm of the Police Service, as it represents the first line of offence with the ability to screen criminals and illicit weapons in transit through the simple and effective enforcement of the most basic traffic laws.
The above graph shows the number of fatalities from road traffic incidents up to 22nd February 2012.
Next page: Art & Essay Competition