Barbados is facing a road safety crisis as the holiday season approaches, a campaigner said Tuesday, with a spike in preventable accidents raising an alarm.
Roland Lowe, president of the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA) and a former police officer urged drivers to exercise heightened caution while navigating the roads and prioritise safety amid the numerous Christmas activities and engagements.
“Going into the Christmas weekend and into the New Year’s, I just want to remind persons to drive to arrive alive,” he said. “Drive with reasonable consideration for other persons using the road with due care and attention. Going to the Christmas parties and [other] Christmas events, have your designated driver in place…I know we saw a slight increase in road fatalities over last year, and that is something we are not pleased with. We are a bit troubled by that, and we would want to see that reduction in road fatalities and road accidents.”
Lowe noted that he was pleased to see the government introducing sweeping new regulations aimed at reforming the public service vehicle (PSV) sector, with a primary focus on improving road safety and curbing reckless driving this year.
One key provision is mandatory training and certification for PSV drivers and conductors.
Lowe stressed that the move, though long in coming, was a major step in the right direction in 2024.
He said: “With the legislation in relation to the PSVs, we can see some steps in the right direction. As the [transport] minister [Santia Bradshaw] had said when we had the meeting with the stakeholders relative to the PSVs legislation, it’s time for action. It’s been going on for a long time, and we can see through affirmative steps they are looking to curb that behaviour and to bring order to the sector. Those are the things that the association — and I am sure all Barbadians — are pleased with so that we can have safer roads.”
The BRSA president noted that while the association looked forward to fewer road deaths in 2025, it was also eager to see the long-awaited implementation of breathalyser testing finally come into effect.
“With the breathalyser testing, if we can get that on board and up and running, that would be an added prong in trying to get the roads safer,” Lowe said. “The association itself is looking at a couple of [road safety] initiatives to start next year. [We are looking] for greater collaboration and partnership from all the stakeholders and government — we’ve seen it start this year and hope it would continue.” (SB)
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