Cruel, immoral, and wrong is how The Barbados Police Service bluntly condemned two hit-and-run road deaths over the National Heroes Day holiday weekend.
A Christ Church pensioner was knocked down and left to die – the sixth fatal road crash for the year and the third in as many days – prompting police spokesman Inspector Rodney Inniss to declare: “It is cruel. It is a real immoral thing. It is wrong, it is illegal, [there] is nothing good about it.”
Speaking to Barbados TODAY after Ainsley Roosevelt Bradshaw, 74, of Kings Court, Lodge Road was killed in a hit-and-run that occurred around 9:15 p.m. Monday as he walked the main road, Inspector Inniss pointed to a deeply disturbing trend that he said points to a lack of consciousness among some road users.
He said: “We all live in this society and we must encourage people to do the right thing and hope that their conscience directs them. If they are driving and they become involved in an accident, a collision they claim is accidental, they should do the natural thing and inform the police, inform other people; the victims have family, relatives and friends. If it is accidental, we are pleading with people to let the police know, stop and see what is going on or render assistance, call the ambulance, do something to assist the individual rather than just flee the scene.”
Bradshaw’s death came two days after Anderson Benedict Graham, 56, of Long Bay Village Road, St Philip, was found on the road about 40 metres from the Salvation Army Long Bay Corps, the apparent victim of a hit-and-run crash. District ‘C’ Police said they were called to the scene at around 1:50 a.m. on Saturday.
Roland Lowe, president of the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA), said the hit-and-run incidents were also “troubling” for the association.
“I want to implore all Barbadians and all road users to just drive with due care and consideration. Pay attention while you are on the road. All of us have to share the road and look out for others on the road. The two hit-and-runs are especially bothersome because, as far as I know, up until today we have not had anybody come forward,” he said.
“You have to take into consideration that something like that can happen to a family member of yours, it can happen to you…. You don’t want a situation where you were in an accident, you struck somebody on the road, but then you drive off without seeing if that person is injured, [or] if they need help. That is another human being.”
Addressing the drivers who fled the scene, Lowe said: “You need to come forward and let there be some closure in relation to the matter. Do the right thing.”
Lowe also urged authorities to step up their efforts to ensure road safety and compliance from drivers, especially in light of the upcoming ICC T20 Men’s World Cup and Crop Over celebrations.
“What I would like to see would be members of the Social Partnership and businesses coming forward so that we can make a concerted effort to get more messaging out there and to do more to make persons on the road aware of the dangers. The areas where there needs to be more lighting and [other] specific concerns on the roads, they need to be addressed,” he said.
“If it’s a problem for Barbadians who are on the road regularly, then for sure when we have an abundance of visitors entering the country, the things that cause some confusion to us as regular road users would obviously cause confusion to them.”
He added: “Sometimes road works are done, changes are made, but I don’t feel enough is done to inform the motoring public about the changes and the correct way to use the particular road that has been changed. Corporate Barbados [needs] to get involved in the business of road safety. Road safety is not just the business of the road safety association, it’s the business of all persons who use the roads on the island.”
The spokesman for the insurance industry added that he believes the number of uninsured vehicles is a major worry.
President of the General Insurance Association of Barbados Randy Graham said the industry had been warning about the rising development for years, in which uninsured motorists strike vehicles or pedestrians and drive off.
He has urged the authorities to take more uninsured vehicles off the road.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb
