Somewhere in Barbados last week the blogmaster observed a Transport Board driver with one hand steering the bus and the other holding a mobile phone to his ear. The observation summed up a lot of what is plaguing Barbados. There is a level of indiscipline taking root in our little country that makes the most optimistic among us fear there is a no comeback path.
From all reports there are about 130,000 vehicles in Barbados (not including scraped vehicles at the side of roads or on vacant lands) with an estimated 50,000 uninsured if Permanent Secretary Andrew Gittens in the Ministry of Transport is to be believed. In the press report cited, mention was made of the Electronic Vehicle Monitoring (EVM) to be implemented to track drivers breaking the law by utilising video surveillance. It is several months the physical installation to support EVM has been installed, however, supporting legislation has not been enacted or proclaimed, the EVM structure is left to ‘rust’.
There appears to be no sense of urgency to enact necessary legislation to operationalise EVM to match legislation promised in January 2025 to force the removal of tint from vehicles. If the government can be so efficient to bring necessary legislation to address dark tint on vehicles, what about transparency legislation and its implementation? The blogmaster is beginning to wonder if Barbadians are as intelligent as we are cranked up to be.
The Barbados Police Service (BPS) and the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB) have patted themselves on the back at a recent decision by the BPS to stop responding to vehicle accidents except is specific cases. The main reason for the decision is that an under-resourced BPS can better utilise resources given rising crime in the country. It seems like a situation developing of the dog chasing its tail. On the one hand there is a system setup to monitor and ticket traffic violations which the government has been unable to implement. On the other hand the BPS is forced to withdraw from attending accident scenes many as a result of lawlessness by motorists on the roads. What if the EVM was functional? Would it inform a more relevant decision making process?
If there is one sector we should be able to fix it is lawlessness on the roads. Some harsh fines, suspension of drivers licenses, impound vehicles and the blogmaster is confidence there would be an immediate improvement to what we have to observe daily on our roads. For some reason our authorities are loath to enforce laws. It is normal to see ‘law-abiding’ citizens breaking traffic stops, driving while heavily under the influence in the absence of breathalyser testing, texting, EarPods in ears, chatting on handheld devices, abusing filter lanes to mention a few violations.
Who cares that Prime Minister Mia Mottley has positioned herself as global advocate on climate change BUT the front page article of today’s Nation reads as follows:
Faced with severe agricultural challenges heading into the Christmas season driven by extreme weather conditions, Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir has announced a series of urgent interventions to support Barbados’ farming sector.
Nation Newspaper – 06.10.2024
For those who believe this blog is about the 130,000 cars on the roads that make travelling from point A to B a time consuming exercise on a daily basis, you are wrong. Who cares about the lost national productivity due to time wasted sitting in SUVs on potholed roads? Who cares about the many incidences of fender benders that have become a daily routine occurrence and a drain of borrowed foreign exchange. Who cares that the public transport system is inefficient and encourages the average Joe to acquire a vehicle as a first priority?
Should Barbadians be concerned? Is this something we should feel obligated to agitate and advocate to change?
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.