It was part of public policy in Barbados beginning in the 1990s and continuing today: a vehicle in every garage at home.
Now, wth an estimated 150 000 cars, truck, buses and motorcycles in a country of about 166 square miles and slightly less than 300 000 people, giving the nation a ratio of more than 343 cars for every 1 000 people, it’s not surprising that every day, or so it seems, a traffic crash is recorded in some part of the country.
What the picture in Barbados suggests is that significantly more action is required to make the road network, incidentally one of the densest in the world, safer for all users.
With 1.3 million people losing their lives annually on the world’s roads and at least 30 million being injured every year, it stands to reason that the United Nations would voice its concern about traffic crashes and the implications for development in poorer states.
“The figures speak for themselves,” said Liz Thompson, a former Barbados cabinet minister who is now an Assistant Secretary-General of the Unired Nations in New York and an executive coordinator of the Rio-Plus 20 International Environmental Conference in Brazil later this year.
“Traffic accidents in Barbados and elsewhere have a connection with other issues, such as stress, time spent on the road in getting to and from work and the costs, such as losing productive people in a small economy like Barbados.
“It’s something that’s being considered in relation to Rio-Plus 20,” said Thompson, a former Barbados Minister of Health who is involved in the planning of the global meeting. “There are a number of policy recommendations being made to deal with transport related matters and by extension the road traffic deaths and accidents.”
How then should Barbados be dealing with the nightmare of traffic crashes and their consequences?
Several answers come quickly to mind.
A greater role for health and education experts and officials in injury prevention initiatives; preparation of a national road safety strategy and plan of action; setting aside more financial and human resources to address the problem; incorporation of road safety measures in land use and transport planning; a boost to random breath testing at sobriety check points on the island; a demand for safety audits for new road projects; the implementation of road safety regulations that require cars imported in the country to have more safety systems that protect occupants.
“In order to combat the problem, though, there needs to be close cooperation and collaboration, using a holistic and integrated approach, across many sectors and disciplines,” stated the World Bank and the WHO in a global road safety report.
Obviously, what’s happening in Barbados is part of a worrying global trend. It’s not simply a matter for the government but the society as a whole to consider. Without the involvement of all segments of society in a search for a solution, Barbados can end up spinning its wheels in the proverbial “mud” while more people are killed or injured on the roads.
