Road safety body stepping up education to help reduce accidents

The Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA) is planning to embark on a series of educational initiatives aimed at reducing the number of accidents on the roads.

President Roland Lowe told Barbados TODAY that in light of the 17 road fatalities recorded for 2023 and the high rate of non-fatal accidents seen compared to previous years, more needs to be done to educate drivers on the best road practices.

The former police officer contended that most accidents are caused by drivers underestimating road conditions, rather than being intoxicated, and more education was therefore required.

“We always talk about the breathalyser [test] and that seems to be a big issue, but from my experience as a police officer and speaking to other police officers who have to investigate accidents, most of the time the driver is inattentive, someone going in excess of the speed limit or not driving to [handle] conditions suitable for the road.

“So the road may be a bit sprinkled [from rain] and you don’t take that into consideration, and you drive at the same speed as you would when the road is dry. That would lead to some problems because you have to drive according to the conditions on the road that exist at the time.”

Lowe said the BRSA wanted to raise its profile and involvement in educating motorists about proper road use.

“We are trying to be more visible, to get our message across, to be present in the public’s eye, and I feel that we have to do more in terms of having these tips and other information out there,” he said. “I don’t want to use the word bombard [but] we might need to be a bit more aggressive [and] do more to get the tips across, so that persons are aware of these things and cognisant [of dangers].”

The planned educational effort will also include an emphasis on electric vehicles, with Lowe adding that drivers had not completely understood how differently the new technology vehicles perform, not just in regular circumstances but also in emergency scenarios.

“Sometimes when changes are made, not enough is done to educate the public about the changes. So, we are pushing for persons to use or to utilise more electric-powered vehicles but these vehicles operate differently than our gas powered vehicles with standard engines that people are accustomed to. These vehicles, from my experience, accelerate very quickly because they are always in that sweet spot between power consumption and power output. You can [get] from 0 to 60 [mph] in a manner of seconds – way quicker than you could in a standard engine vehicle.

“When these changes are made, and you are asking persons to [buy more electric vehicles], you also have to do the due diligence of educating persons about the different experiences that they would have, relative to what they knew before,” Lowe explained.
(SB)