The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service is appealing to drivers to exercise greater care and caution on the nation’s roads as two overnight road traffic collisions claimed two more lives.
Around 1.30 am on Monday 7th August, 2023, officers from the
St Margaret’s Police Station responded to a report of a road traffic accident along Hermitage Road, Claxton Bay, and upon arrival observed vehicle PCR 5177, a silver Hyundai Tucson crashed onto a concrete wall on the northern side of the roadway.
The driver was identified as Terell Brown age 33 years of #2 Clement Joseph Drive Claxton Bay, who received fatal injuries in the collision.
Also around 10.40 pm on Monday August 7th, 42-year-old driver Amrit Nowbut, of #2 Brazil Village Sangre Grande was killed when his motor vehicle PDR 3317, a white Nissan Ad Wagon was proceeding west along the Eastern Main Road, Valencia, in the vicinity of Mt. Zion Church. It is reported that he attempted to overtake traffic and collided head-on with HCF 420, a 25 seater red band maxi taxi driven by Sanjeev Kallian, 42 years, of #4 Guaico Sangre Grande. Nowbut succumbed to his injuries on the scene, whilst Kallian was conveyed to the Sangre Grande Hospital with serious injuries.
These two road traffic deaths increased the current road fatality figure for Trinidad and Tobago to 58. For the same period in 2022, there were 62 deaths.
TTPS Road Safety Coordinator Sgt Brent Batson, reiterated the preventable nature of these tragedies, “two more families have lost their loved ones unnecessarily in tragedies which need not occur if drivers would have been more cautious and responsible on the roadways. Although we are lower in road traffic deaths compared to last year, we continue to witness reckless driving patterns which endanger not only the drivers themselves but their passengers and other road users.” Batson added, “Alcohol impaired drivers continue to pose a major risk on the road network. For last the month, Highway Patrol teams have arrested and charged forty-eight (48) drivers for DUI offences and even more disturbing, is the high breathalyser reading being obtained by drivers, with many being two or three times over the legal limit.
Senior Superintendent of the Traffic & Highway Patrol Branch, Clint Arthur also lamented the fact that the months of April, May and June saw an increase in road traffic deaths, although officers from this unit have been engaged in a sustained effort in traffic enforcement. The Branch has been continuously responding to road traffic accidents on the highway which are often caused by poor driver judgement, especially by following vehicles too closely and cutting in on drivers when attempting to overtake or change lanes. “Drivers need to understand there are only two lanes on the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway and with the volume of vehicles on the roadways, the reduced capacity means there will always be some traffic especially in peak hours. There is nowhere to go…it just requires patience, the goal is to reach your destination safely.” Senior Superintendent Arthur added “many of these traffic accidents on the highways are caused by impatient, inattentive, selfish drivers and this often leads to additional hours of traffic as Police, Fire and EMS often need to assist injured persons or remove immobilised vehicles from the roadway.”
Arthur also wanted to highlight the fact that when police have to respond to these preventable incidents they divert critical resources from anti-crime operations, “depending upon the seriousness of the crash, patrol officers may have to stay on collision scene for hours until a body is removed or the roadway is deemed safe for reopening. These are resources we would rather be engaged in anti-crime road check duties”.
Although we are appealing to drivers to obey the rules and regulations governing the roadways, I have met with my command team with the goal to increase road policing operations both along the highways and within the divisional main roads.”
Corporate Communications Unit
August 8th, 2023