Child struck by car home from hospital; mum calls for road safety measures

A Westbury Primary School pupil who was knocked down by a car on President Kennedy Drive, in an incident that was captured in a viral surveillance video, has been discharged from hospital, prompting his mother to appeal for urgent action on dangerous driving in their St Michael neighbourhood.

As the child was recovering at home with his family, mother Natasha Martindale, spoke with Barbados TODAY, expressing both relief and concern over the ordeal.

“He is still in aches and pains – the head, the back, the feet – but otherwise he is eating, drinking, still a little nauseous but I am glad he got life. I will be okay to know that he [is okay], but it’s still a little traumatising for me. It’s not easy,” she said.

She noted that the support from friends and wider Barbados has been comforting.

She said: “I have a few people that are checking in constantly, they would pass as long as they know where I am and check in on him, both checking in on him and me and the others to see how we are doing. It’s nice.”

Though she admitted she had no animosity towards the driver involved in the accident, she raised concerns about dangerous driving that has become commonplace in and around their St Michael neighbourhood.

“The gap where we actually live I… call it Bushy Park in St Michael because the drivers when they hit the corner, that is the end of it. Don’t mind that they have three corners in we gap and the neighbourhood is filled with kids, you have to cuss [the drivers] sometimes. You have to holler at them; they know the kids in the kids in the neighbourhood, some of the gaps the children actually play in the road, but the drivers sometimes do not care.”

She expressed hope that in light of the accident, something would be done to deal with the problem.

“I spoke to a few people, they are working on it, so I hope that MTW [Ministry of Transport and Works] get it done soon, because most of the kids that use the front road actually live in the neighbourhood. So I hope they [do] something soon, so that the parents and stuff would feel a little safer,” she said.

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb