Late on Sunday morning, a coach crashed into a wall, on Joy Road, at Joe's River, St. Joseph, on the way to the Party Monarch Finals. Six people died and some 37 were injured as a result of the crash. In a small country like Barbados, an event like this is rightly seen as a national tragedy, and many people will today be sympathizing with the families and friends who lost loved ones. I send them all my condolences.Road accidents have become all too common place in Jamaica, where driving is very fast and often aggressive (see report from 2006 in The Jamaica Gleaner as an example). There, the death toll in a year is around a frighteningly high 300. In addition, the number of injured is very high. Both developments are alarming health officials. I wrote before about some of the tendencies I have seen that are moving Bajans in this direction (see Barbados on the brink ). It's a common cost of fast development. Barbados is made up mainly of narrow roads, and some of the driving that I have seen is totally out of keeping with an essentially rural environment, with vehicles being driven more like racing cars, especially buses. I am not pointing a finger of blame on anyone, but many in Barbados will know the image to which I am referring. We will all await the investigation, which will come after this event. My hope is that Barbadians learn from the spread of this problem in other Caribbean countries and work hard to avoid such tragedies becoming common place.
Those who wish to follow the news actively can do that through the two local blogs, which have become more like online news sources, Barbados Free Press and Barbados Underground.
1 comment:
Unfortunately in Jamaica the incidence of road fatalities is now so commonplace. I wish we could have two sets of roads.
One could be a race course where all these crazies could go and drive as madly as they wish.
The other could be for the rest of us who value our lives and the lives of others.
Post a Comment