The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) is taking steps to regulate the use of mobile phones while driving a motor vehicle, citing this as a possible cause of traffic accidents.
Paula Fletcher, executive
director of the NRSC says this is to be achieved by the revamping of the more than 60-year-old Road Traffic Act. This law has been amended several times to facilitate new safety practices such as the mandatory use of seat belts and the testing of drivers for excessive consumption of alcohol.
Catch-up
"There are lots of things we need to catch up with, for example, cellphone use. That is a pretty new thing so we have to get really current to see in what way the law will support safety on our roads," Mrs. Fletcher told The Gleaner yesterday. "The enforcement of it is a different issue, but, at least, we should have on board the basics of how we should behave."
The road safety official said the amended Road Traffic Act will also address safety standards for tyres. She noted that while international standards describe tyres with 1.6 millimetres of thread depth as roadworthy, the local law regards tyres as defective only at the point where "the breaker strip is showing".
"So, really, the hands of the authorities that have to certify the fitness of the vehicle are tied because they have a very low standard working with," asserted Fletcher.
She said: "The law is going to set a standard now, so that when you go to the depot for your car to be passed (as fit) they will have an instrument to measure your tyre depth".
Mrs. Fletcher expects the Bill to be tabled in Parliament by year end and, perhaps, passed early next year.
Meanwhile, the National Road Safety Council disclosed yesterday that 232 persons had died from traffic accidents between the start of the year and September 1, 27 more than the number of fatal accidents for the same period last year. Seventy-six pedestrians, including 26 children, are among the fatalities so far this year.
| Breakdown of traffic deaths | 2005 | 2006 |
|---|
Pedestrians | 78 | 76 | |
| Motorcyclists | 19 | 18 | |
Pedal cyclists | 13 | 19 |
| PPV drivers | 8 | 10 |
| PMC drivers | 27 | 51 |
| CMC drivers | 5 | 6 |
| Pillion passengers | 6 | 1 |
| PMC passengers | 35 | 25 |
| CMC passengers | 6 | 3 |
PPV passengers | 8 | 23 | |
Total | 205 | 232 |
