ComPol Addresses Increase in Fatal Road Traffic Accidents

Reports of fatal road traffic accidents have increased over the last several weeks. Among those reports is a spike in fatal motorcycle accidents. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says motorcycles continue to be an issue for traffic enforcement, including police officers. He says the department is looking at the amendment of certain legislation to better regulate motorcyclists.

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“I really and truly don’t know.  What else can the police and the Department of Transport do?  We would have to have police at every milepost, or traffic officers at every milepost.  Because as much as we do enforcements putting in place checkpoints and highway patrols, when the drivers approach a checkpoint, they slow down. And the minute they’re out of sight of that checkpoint, then their usual bad driving habit. We find that many of these accidents are as a result of drivers not paying attention, driving without you paying attention. Motorcycle continues to be an issue.  How we address that I think that we have been able to do a number of sensitizations, even creating flyers on safety tips on these motorcycles. Even that is not helping.  It certainly will require that drivers of motor vehicles and riders of motorcycles take more responsibility in ensuring that they exercise more caution in the driving of motor vehicles and the handling of motorcycles. Motorcycle riders at time tend to operate in such a way that they don’t, the rules of the road don’t apply to them. They have a separate rule that apply to them, which is not the case. And in some instances, the drivers of motor vehicle have no regards for motorcycle riders.  So it’s a dual issue that we have to look at to see how we can address it. But it certainly raises a serious question if we look at the amount of traffic fatalities we have had this year. It’s a lot.  for a small country. And so we need to see what else we can do. We continue to be in dialogue with the Department of Transport. We’re looking at the amendment of some laws to be able to regulate more particularly motorcycle riders. And once those laws are amended, then we see how it goes from there.”