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Transport minister's plea after traffic accidents leave two teens dead, four injured

FORMER Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin.

FORMER Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin.

THE MINISTER of Transport and Aviation has urged drivers to be aware of the risks associated with dangerous driving after two serious traffic accidents in New Providence on Thursday led to two deaths and four people being detained in hospital, two men with critical injuries.

Glenys Hanna Martin pleaded on Friday for people in cars to be aware of distracted or dangerous driving, the dangers of excessive speed and urged the use of seatbelts.

On Thursday night, a teenaged male driver and a female passenger died after they were ejected from a Nissan car which reportedly crashed into a utility pole while travelling south on New Providence Highway around 7pm. Police reported that the driver lost control of the car, which contained four people, and that two other female passengers were taken to hospital. The man and woman were pronounced dead on the road at the scene.

Earlier in the afternoon, two men were taken to hospital with "very critical" injuries after the car in which they were travelling crashed into a utility pole on John F Kennedy Drive. Police reported that both had been thrown from the vehicle. They believed the driver lost control after hitting a kerb and neither man was said to have been wearing a seatbelt.

Mrs Hanna Martin, in a statement on Friday, said: "Yesterday two very serious accidents occurred on the streets of New Providence causing serious injury and death along with the inevitable grief, pain and suffering.

"Again I urge all of our people to have a heightened awareness of the risks associated with distracted or dangerous driving. I wish to emphasise and reiterate the potential life-saving importance of using seatbelts.

"Please let us inform ourselves as to the deadly dangers associated with excessive speed; of particular concern is our young drivers especially as we approach the Summer months.

"Preventing serious traffic accidents requires all of us in the community to educate ourselves on the hard facts associated with these tragic and terrible events. We must each as concerned citizens advocate for safe behaviours on our streets and we must seek to protect each other and ourselves from harm when we use our roads.

"I wish to extend heartfelt condolences to the families of those young people that died. I am praying for a full recovery of the injured."

Comments

sheeprunner12 8 years, 7 months ago

Did these children/driver have properly issued license(s)??????? ......... Were they joy-riding or intoxicated or both??????? ........ Did they have proper permission to drive that car with proper insurance coverage???? ......... Were these children properly supervised by the school or parents???????? .............. Why were they having a class beach party in the middle of their BGCSE exams????????? ............ again apparent slackness causing death

themessenger 8 years, 7 months ago

Where is the traffic enforcement Mrs.Hanna? The only time we see evidence of the invisible division, aka the Road Traffic division, is when Mr. Christie sails by behind the flashing lights and sirens of his outriders. Why does it take two to three hours for a policeman to show up at the scene of an accident? Why are our people allowed to drive around all day and night focused on their cell phones rather than the road? Why is the prison bus, which I might add has no headlights or signals, allowed to dangerously barge through already gridlocked traffic at high speed. If I could have a dollar for every traffic infraction I see during the course of a day I would be wealthy in a month.

Economist 8 years, 7 months ago

She talks of speed as the killer, I disagree.

One of the safest roads in the world is the German Autobahn. The average speed is about 125 mph, yes 125 not 25. So how can such a road have so few fatalities per mile?

  1. People have to/must/compulsory take real driving lessons from professional driving instructors.
  2. People have to pass a comprehensive written drivers test and a comprehensive road test. 3.The cars have real inspections that include tire treads, brakes (not just the hand break) it consist of a battery of checks. 4.The Police give tickets for bald tires, for driving slowly in the passing (outside) lane and also for not pulling over for a faster car coming up from behind, if the wipers are not working and IF YOU FAIL TO INDICATE WHEN TURNING and so on.

sheeprunner12 8 years, 7 months ago

I am sure you have heard what is going in the Road Traffic Dept ....... no one hardly goes through the "front door" to get driver's or vehicle licenses/inspections anymore!!!!! ....... They collected $26 million from 380,00 vehicles!!!!!!!!!

Hogfish 8 years, 7 months ago

Hanna, forever only a reaction. never pro-action.

You put the money back to road traffic treasury yet??

Beyond useless.

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