Road carnage rolls on

LAST WEEK Sunday's regular Auto Feature carried a report from the Traffic Police indicating that despite an almost round-the-clock police presence on the roads accidents continue at an alarming pace.

Figures from January up to May 26 show that 137 deaths were recorded in 113 fatal accidents; for the corresponding period last year there were 129 deaths in 108 fatal accidents. Thus, while there were fewer fatal accidents there were more fatalities.

Traffic Police Corporal Hubert Dennis from the Elletson Road-based department in Kingston has surmised that motorists drive with care when they are aware of the police presence; but they drive "atrociously" otherwise. He sees this, he says, when driving his private vehicle especially on weekends.

Other private observers have noted significant changes in the attitudes of drivers of heavy units ­ truck­trailers, buses, etc. For the most part they now ignore the lower speed limits which apply to them and routinely overtake motor cars especially on the rural highways.

Within the Corporate Area, in particular, a growing menace is the unbridled antics of pedal cyclists who no longer conform to any of the rules of the road. They ride on the wrong side of the street, against the one-way signs; across pedestrian crossings; and at nights they ride without lights. It is not surprising that 21 of them have been killed since the start of the year.

What the police still regard as carnage on the roads persists despite the imposition of the rule that seat-belts must be used. Yet the police estimate that more than 90 per cent of motorists are conforming in this regard.

Perhaps the most disturbing statistic is that 39 pedestrians, 16 of them children, have been killed so far, the highest of various categories of fatalities.

Inadequate space for too many vehicles is the groundwork on which the carnage plays out on what seems to be a bloody road with no end in sight.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.

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