Arrive Alive warns… Pedestrians’ deaths competing with drivers’ fatalities
The number of fatal traffic accidents featuring pedestrians is competing with the number of drivers who lost their lives on the nation’s roadways.
The warning comes from president of Arrive Alive, Sharon Inglefield, who says a behavioural shift is needed.
The Arrive Alive president says motorists, as well as pedestrians, need to approach road use with a lot more caution and awareness.
“We have a behavioural problem in Trinidad. We see it in the crime figures increasing. We see it in the road fatalities,” she observed. “So, culturally, as well as socially, there is a problem. What that problem is making our roads more forgiving.”
Sharon Inglefield says in addition to infrastructural changes, there is a need for a comprehensive public education campaign on proper road use that targets both drivers and pedestrians.
She notes that clear communication and public education plans focussing on proper road use have been absent for many years.
“A clear communication plan is essential to change that culture,” she asserts. “Infrastructure is essential to change that culture. So we’re changing behaviour and we’re changing culture.”
Sharon Inglefield says while the police cannot be everywhere at once, proper enforcement of the traffic laws plays a critical role in keeping fatalities down.
“We got to marry those three—education, infrastructure and enforcement—to change culture,” she says.
For the year thus far, there have been 76 road fatalities. Of that number, 35 fatalities were pedestrians.
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