by Donella Hosten
To raise more awareness about traffic offences and accidents, the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) shared its statistics with the nation on Wednesday, 30 May 2017 during a press briefing at Police Headquarters.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Edvin Martin, thus far, there has been a 6% increase in vehicular accidents as compared to the same period last year. The number increased from 504 to 534 accidents, with 1 fatality in 2017 and 2 in 2016.
Although there has been a reduction in the number of accidents resulting in individual injuries, from 125 to 76, there has been an increase in the number of persons being injured (from 137 to 143). It was noted that the St George’s area recorded the highest number of accidents, due to persons driving without due care and attention.
Serious accidents associated with speeding and dangerous driving occurred mainly in Calivigny, Grand Anse, Point Salines and Beaulieu. The Deputy Commissioner implored motorists and pedestrians to exercise greater caution when using the nation’s roads.
He informed the RGPF will be embarking on initiatives to curb these road accidents, including the installation of speed humps, erection of speed limit signs islandwide, radar guns and an increase in patrolling high-risk areas. Vehicle clamps will be introduced to deal with the matter of illegal parking and to somewhat reduce traffic congestion.
This may not be so surprising, as there are more vehicles on the roads every day. It would be very interesting to see a tabulation of “principal cause of accident”. Also, number of citation issued/fines levied, etc. Without such information, how could one know what corrective actions will have what effect. From personal observation and experience, I bet “better enforcement” will yield the greatest reduction..