Last year, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) gave out an estimated total of $90 million in fixed penalty notices (tickets) to errant drivers on the nation’s roads.
These penalties included offences such as failure to comply with traffic signs/defaced registration plates (license plates), traffic light breaches, improper overtaking on the left like using the shoulder, failure to wear seatbelts and using a cellular phone while driving.
Speaking at the TTPS weekly media briefing, Inspector Kissoon Badloo also said, “According to data from the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch’s Records and Statistical Unit, the year 2018 ended with 112 road traffic deaths arising from 104 fatal road traffic accidents.”
The figure represents a four per cent reduction in road traffic deaths from the 117 seen in 2017. A similar figure was last seen in 1958, sixty years ago.
There was also a decrease in fatalities along the nation’s highways with the Diego Martin Highway, Churchill Roosevelt Highway and Uriah Butler Highway experiencing a decline of 33 per cent, 31 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.
Commenting on the statistics, Road Safety Coordinator PC Brent Batson said, “The reduction indicates a sustained decline in road traffic deaths in Trinidad and Tobago with the country having successfully reduced road traffic deaths by 46 per cent over the past eight years.”
This decline, he said, is in keeping with targets set by the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020), which aims to encourage member states to reduce the number road traffic deaths by 50 per cent by 2020.
“It is heartening to see that many of the initiatives which were implemented have made a significant and measurable impact including deployment of Laser Speed Guns, sustained DUI Enforcement, the iRoadSafe - Road Safety Education and Awareness Campaign, DUI Task Force Units, Voluntary Breath Testing Stations, Battenberg High Visibility Markings on Highway Patrol, Rapid Response Unit and now Emergency Response Patrol vehicles as well as re-staffing and training of officers at Traffic Branch,” he said.
Arrive Alive: Proof that law enforcement works
In an email response, road safety group Arrive Alive president, Sharon Inglefield told Guardian Media: “This report is proof that enforcement of our laws does work, and (Arrive Alive) congratulates the Ministry of Works & Transport as well as the TTPS, in their support of new policies, laws and providing the law enforcement officers with tools like the breathalyser units as well as speed guns to effectively do their jobs.”
Inglefield added, “Making reckless drivers accountable for their poor choices of impairment, avoiding distraction, as well as obeying the speed limit (subject to and adapting to the road conditions), is also sending a clear message that proactive prevention is in place on our road network. We do hope that in 2019 the TTPS will prioritise justice for traffic victims families, through efficient prosecution of reckless drivers before the courts.”
She noted the 79 per cent male involvement in road fatalities and encouraged male drivers to “dig deep” and take in to account their loved loves left behind to grieve, and left without financial support, when they adopt risky behaviour on the nation’s roads by drinking and speeding; two of the primary causes for the loss of life.
Inglefield added, “We are sincerely hoping that our Government will focus on the upgrade and safety of our present road network to include intersections that are the most dangerous in our country. A comprehensive guardrail and cable barrier maintenance and repair programme are imperative. Bringing our road network up to 3-star minimum standard to include markings, lighting (cat eyes where appropriate), signage, barriers, roundabouts, pedestrian crossings, cycling lanes for motorbikes as well as pedal cyclists, to an international standard is imperative to save more lives.”
BOX
Top offences
- 3,411 drivers were arrested and charged for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) offences.
- 38,078-speed tickets issued to motorists carrying a total value of $38.078 million.
- Excluding speed limit offences, 68,956 tickets were issued to motorists for other traffic violations with an estimated total value of $52 million.
BOX
Road death figures
- Males formed 79 per cent of total road fatalities in the country.
- 15 to 34 years were the largest category of road fatalities, accounting for 38 per cent of deaths with the second largest age group being 55 to 64 years accounting for 22 per cent.
- Drivers formed the largest category of road user deaths in 2018 accounting for 41 per cent of road deaths; a decrease of 6 per cent compared to 49 in 2017.
- Passenger deaths experienced a 30 per cent decrease with 16 recorded deaths in 2018 compared to 23 in 2017.
- Pedestrian deaths (34) still remained high accounting for 30 per cent of total road deaths in 2018.
- Motorcyclists deaths were reduced in 2018 from eight in 2017 to six in 2018; a 25 per cent reduction.
- 2018, however, saw an increase of 350 per cent in bicyclist fatalities with nine being killed.