Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan says police officers will soon have more speed guns to use as efforts continue to make T&T's roads safer for motorists and pedestrians.
He said this measure will be supported by legislation to introduce a points system as an additional penalty for delinquent drivers.
The minster, who spoke at Arrive Alive's Walk and Ride at the Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, yesterday for World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, revealed that he has lost relatives to road accidents.
"The grief and impact are long lasting, often permanent," he said.
Sinanan said while statistics from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch show a decrease in fatal accidents, there is still a lot of work to do."
If each driver in T&T pledged to always follow the rules of the road, that is no drinking and driving, no texting and talking on the phone and no speeding, we can overall decrease road accidents and fatalities," he said.
Speaking in support of the UN's proclamation of a decade of action for road safety, Sinanan said the Traffic Management Branch is involved in several projects to make the roads safer. These include additional features to assist at pedestrian crossings, including head signals, bells, improved signage and repainting of 180 km of road markings.
Further efforts will include redesigning highways with informational signs; placement of road studs in high risk areas to illuminate roadways for greater safety; placing New Jersey slip form barriers between Orange Grove and Piarco to separate traffic lanes; establishing uninterrupted power supply for traffic signals; red light enforcement legislation; and installing special accessible pedestrian signal devices to help visually impaired persons cross the streets.
Road safety advocate Brent Batson compared reckless drivers to criminals who is using use and knives to take innocent lives.
Yesterday's event, which was sponsored by BHP Billiton, was supported by the T&T Police Service through DCP Deodath Dulalchan who assured that road safety is one of their strategic priority goals.
Batson said up to yesterday, 110 road deaths had been recorded–a 14 per cent decrease over last year's figures. He appealed to motorists to act responsibly during the upcoming Christmas and Carnival seasons.
"The deployment of laser speed guns has had a considerable effect on raising the speed awareness of the motoring public and ensuring compliance" he said.
"From the police perspective, there are only so many tickets we can write."