In 2010, PC Fidel Kazim Lewis hit and injured pedestrian Julia Brown near the Queen's Park Savannah with his white Nissan wagon, breaking her leg and pelvic bone. Brown was hospitalised for three months.With just those facts, it's natural to assume the driver would be held liable.But in the court case last month, a Port-of-Spain magistrate discharged Lewis, a 28-year-old police officer, because Brown failed to use the pedestrian walkway which was only a few feet away.Even Brown admitted during her cross-examination that she was wrong to step out into the path of cars. Still, Brown broke no laws by not using the walkway, since there are no laws which prohibit jaywalking in T&T.
"There's nothing in the law about jaywalking," one police officer at the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) mobile office explained.He said policemen could guide pedestrians, but they cannot enforce any jaywalking rule regarding unlawful crossing, as there is none.The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure has measures in place to help mitigate pedestrian accidents and ensure road safety–zebra-crossings, pelican-crossings and walkovers–which pedestrians are advised to use. In such areas drivers are warned to slow down and proceed with caution, yielding to crossing pedestrians, and negligent drivers could be held partially liable for any incidents which occur as a result.On the other hand, careless pedestrians endanger their lives, but face no penalty under the law when they put drivers in court.According to statistics for 2013, out of the 150 deaths related to road accidents in the country, 46 people were pedestrians.In 2012, there was an even higher death count for pedestrians–55 out of 193 road fatalities.
Added to that, the majority of those deaths occurred on major highways, where pedestrians fail to use the concrete walkovers."People don't use the walkovers on the highway, they run underneath them," a source from the ACP mobile office said.President of road safety lobby group Arrive Alive Sharon Inglefield said pedestrian awareness was a major part of its advocacy drive.As part of its pedestrian awareness programme the group speaks to schools about crossing the road safely, teaching children to "Think, stop, look and listen.""We teach them to look right, then left, then right again," Inglefield explained.
Additionally, she said it was smart for pedestrians to use reflective wear at night and fluorescent colours during the day. She said it was an ongoing educational awareness campaign, and hoped more attention would be given to upgrading and providing proper lighting and signage for zebra-crossings.Inglefield agreed the onus was not solely on the driver to be vigilant."Pedestrians need to be responsible and accountable for where they cross...We shouldn't be stopping vehicles to cross the road. We should use the zebra-crossings," she said.Attorney-at-law Dirk Ramdin advised that many roads do not have proper signage for pedestrians, and so the onus was always on drivers to exercise due care and attention on the roads.
Ramdin said he never heard of a case in T&T where a pedestrian was charged or convicted of jaywalking, and there is no reference to it in the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act.
According to the Act, traffic signals for pedestrians at a Pelican crossing conveys the following warnings and information:
The red light shown by the pedestrian light signals means that the pedestrian shall not use the crossing;
The green light shown by the pedestrian light signal means that the pedestrian may use the crossing, and drivers of vehicles shall not cause their vehicles to enter the limits of the crossing while the pedestrian is in the act of crossing;
Where a flashing red light is shown by the pedestrian light signal–
(i) a pedestrian who is already on the crossing when the flashing red light is first shown, may continue to use the crossing;
(ii) vehicular traffic may proceed across the crossing, but if the pedestrian is on the carriageway within the limits of the crossing before any part of the vehicle has entered those limits, the pedestrian has right of precedence within those limits over that vehicle
(iii) a pedestrian who is not already on the crossing when the flashing red light is first shown shall not start to cross the carriageway.
The driver of a vehicle shall not cause the vehicle or any part thereof to stop within the limits of a "Pelican" crossing unless either he is prevented from proceeding by circumstances beyond his control or it is necessary for him so to stop in order to avoid an accident.