In T&T: 2,000 died on roads in last 10 years

(Trinidad Guardian) Two thousand lives have been lost to traffic accidents in the last decade, ACP Mobile Eunice Joseph said, yesterday. At the launch of Phase II the T&T Police Service iRoadsafe Campaign at Harris Promenade, San Fernando, Joseph said too many families are hurting and called on all citizens to do their part to decrease the carnage on the road. She said even though there was a 22 per cent reduction in 2013, still 152 lives were lost and for 2014, the figure stands at 11.

Joseph said this loss of life could be avoided, but each person must take responsibility to ensure it does, including passengers who sit silently while the driver drives recklessly and pedestrians who walk and cross the road as though they are strolling in the park. “Road traffic accidents are robbing the country of its young people. The sad reality, though, is that these accidents can be avoided. However, to make this happen, each of us must take responsibility for the choices we make as road users.”

She cautioned drivers not to leave home late and then drive like a bat out of hell to try to reach on time. “We cannot be sleepy and think, ‘I can make it home.’ We may not. Drinking and driving is against the law, we have breathalyser technicians on the road and you will be charged or you may cause an accident.” She cautioned drivers against talking on their mobile phones while driving without a headset. “Remember, accidents don’t just happen, they are caused.”

Accident survivor Mahendra Maharaj, who was invited by the police to share his story, fought back the tears as he publicly bared his soul, telling of his pain and suffering and the void left in his heart by the 2009 accident which claimed the life of five people, including his son, nine-year-old son Sachin. Maharaj said the most unfortunate and unpleasant task he ever had to undertake was to watch the body of his son as it lay on the road at Mosquito Creek, La Romaine.

He said he felt as though he has lost five children, because all the victims—Sachin Singh, 12, his son Sachin Maharaj, nine, Rajkumar Deonarine, 14, Rishi Ramolchan, 23, and Rajish Ramnarine, 38—were friends and had grown up before him. “My sunrise, every morning, is to look at a picture of my dead son…Every morning, that is the first thing my eyes focus on,” he said. “Why should I be doing that, because of one man’s ignorance? It’s a daily torment we face.

“We keep telling people about drinking and driving, yet they want to be macho, drink, drive, party whole night—and 90 per cent of the time, the people who cause the accident survive and we, the law-abiding citizens, are the ones who have to face this pain on a daily basis.” Maharaj had to undergo facial reconstruction, while his son Dasan, now eight, suffers from hearing and speech impediment and is unable to walk.

Maharaj formed the group Citizens Against Dangerous Driving after the accident, in which, as well as the five deaths, another 12 people were injured. He called on parents to do their part to save their children by keeping them in a drug- and alcohol-free environment. He said too many young children, especially university graduates who were supposed to be the future of the nation, were dying.

San Fernando Deputy Mayor Junia Regrello endorsed proper parenting, saying too many parents were buying high-end fast cars for their inexperienced children. As the father of two teenage boys, Regrello said they too were looking at fast cars, but the only car he would allow them to drive at this time was his 15-year-old Prado. Regrello welcomed the initiative, which he said was timely at this Carnival season, which he dubbed “the wild and crazy season.”

The thrust of the programme, which was launched in Port-of-Spain two months ago, according to ACP Donald Denoon, is to get people to acknowledge they have a part ot play in making the road safe and playing their part to keep it safe. Denoon said it would focus on speed, drinking and driving, distracted driving, like speaking on a mobile while driving, youth at-risk drivers, vehicle safety and pedestrian safety.