Thorne urges PSV music ban after school crash

Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne on Tuesday called on the government to ban or restrict music on public service vehicles, arguing that children should not be subjected to explicit lyrics or degrading content during their daily commute — an appeal which followed Monday’s crash involving a ZR near Lester Vaughan School.

During debate on the Copyright Bill in Parliament, he said the government must act with courage to protect children and uphold moral standards in society.

“I want this government to accept its responsibility to protect the children of this country,” Thorne declared.

He said students deserve to travel on public service vehicles in “an environment that is not self-degrading, an environment that is not assaultive on their dignity, an environment in which a seven- or eight-year-old will be shielded from profanity while on the way to school, cluttering their minds with filth”.

Stressing that while he did not wish to be hostile, the opposition leader said he had a duty to “speak the truth” and challenge the administration to act on principle rather than popularity.

“Will our young children continue to be exposed to what is passing for music and entertainment?” he asked.

Thorne argued that public transport should not be used as a platform for explicit or degrading music: “The public service vehicle is not the proper domain for the dissemination or the expression of certain types of music.”
He further called on the government to consider removing music entirely from PSVs: “The government … must consider removing music from public service vehicles.”

But Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams rejected the suggestion that the administration was ignoring problems in the PSV industry, saying the government was neither complacent nor indifferent to what happened.

“The impression was conveyed that this government is oblivious to what is going on with the ZR culture,” Abrahams said. “Every single member of this government sympathises and empathises with those who were injured yesterday.”

Abrahams revealed that ministers had discussed the accident earlier in the day and agreed that “enough is enough”.

“We have tried gentle suasion, we have tried communication, we have tried meeting halfway, we have tried persuasion — we’ve tried everything,” he said. “The feeling of this government, and I believe it’s going to be reflected soon, is that the zero-tolerance aspect now has to come.”

He added that legislation had already been passed to strengthen the Transport Authority and make the industry “more governable and less out of control than it was”, but acknowledged that further enforcement would be needed.

“The public of Barbados needs to understand that this government does not condone what happens in the PSV sector,” Abrahams said. “We are aware, we have taken steps, we’ve tried all legal means to bring it to heel, and like the rest of Barbados, we’re outraged at what happened yesterday and I am sure consequences will flow from that.”

But the minister slammed Thorne’s comments as “reckless”, accusing him of trying to turn “a most traumatic experience for children, parents, and teachers” into a political point”.

“The record must reflect that this is a whole-of-Barbados issue, a whole-of-Barbados concern,” Abrahams said.

(LG)