Bolstering road safety

By Simone Tull

Former police officer Leon Blades has now added another accolade to his name, that of a published author. 

On Saturday evening, there was a dual book launch held at the Prince Cave Hall, St Cecilia’s Barracks in Station Hill St. Michael. The books titled Avoiding Collisions in Barbados and Keeping You Safe – Children’s Highway Code were a collaborative effort with another son of the soil, Mark Corbin.

Blades, who dedicated over 40 years of his life to law enforcement, and Corbin, who resides in the United Kingdom, have accumulated vast experience in the areas of traffic management and traffic enforcement. 

Corbin shared, “My job is all about transport resilience. It’s all about keeping people safe. It’s all about making sure that when people leave home in the morning that they can get back home safely in the evening.”

Throughout his years of service in the force, Blades has consistently been concerned about the way Barbadians misuse the roadways. From then, he has been toying with the idea of producing material that can remedy this problem. He was already compiling this information when tragedy struck home, and his son Lemar Blades was one of two fatalities in a traffic accident in July 2021. 

What many did not know was that his life was soon again set in a tailspin when his other son who lives abroad was knocked from his motorcycle. Fortunately, he has recovered, but the overwhelming desire to educate the public on proper road use was intensified. Co-author Corbin’s life was also touched by tragedy, and he has lost two siblings to what he terms ‘road trauma’. 

With the publication of these books, Blades is determined to create a legacy and simultaneously fill a void created by the lack of local material. This absence was prominent when he had to rely on foreign material when conducting educational sessions, when he was still on active duty.

Corbin shared, “I got involved in Leon’s book because I feel quite strongly that we need to do more in our country. We need to do more to keep our young people and our general population safe.” 

He believes that as a country, we are failing to take advantage of our human capital. “I think there is a lot for us to learn from our population and our people who are coming out of the workforce but taking all of that experience with them,” he noted.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce addressed the attendees, stating, “I salute you on your passion to share your experiences in an area which is still relevant today and impacts every life in Barbados.” He added, “I am confident that it will achieve its overarching objective… of educating Barbadians into better drivership. I can say with a degree of confidence you live up to expectations in that regard.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Works and Water Resources (MTWW) Minister Santia Bradshaw, also extended congratulations to the two authors.

 “I want to commend both of you on the publication of these two books. We can never have enough literature on road safety and the reality is that books like these obviously create an awareness of extremely important issues, which affect us whether we are pedestrians, whether we are commuters, whether we are drivers, whether we are passengers.” 

She believes that it is necessary to impart proper road safety guidelines from young. “It is important that we encourage these positive behaviours so that it almost becomes habitual,” she added.

Cheryl Forde, representative of Co-operators General Insurance which sponsors the book, noted that they have been actively trying to find ways to curb accidents as well and the books align with that mandate. They noted they will continue to support the authors’ efforts.

Copies of the book were presented to Minister Bradshaw, Deputy Commissioner Boyce, and Chief Technical Officer at MTWW, Cheryl Bennett- Inniss. (STT)