By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Chief Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
EDUCATION Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin has urged motorists to exercise greater caution near school zones after a CH Reeves Junior High School student was reportedly injured in a traffic accident near the Mall of Marathon on Thursday.
Police have not released many details on the incident, but confirmed the matter is under active investigation. The student’s condition also remains unclear.
Mrs Hanna-Martin said she immediately alerted officials from the Ministry of Transport after the matter was brought to her attention.
She said the incident underscores the urgent need for a review of the area near the Mall at Marathon, where students frequently cross after school.
“In that particular area, you have two major high schools, highly populated, many on foot, hundreds, but it's also mixed in with a commercial area. It's a major thoroughfare, and so it requires, first of all, drivers in that area, to have a heightened sense of precaution,” Mrs Hanna-Martin told reporters on Friday.
“I know we'd be all trying to get from point A to point B, but we don't want to take down children along the way.”
She added that her ministry, along with other government agencies, has been working to improve pedestrian safety in high-traffic school zones, including the introduction of new signage.
Plans are also in the pipeline to introduce crossing guards, she added.
“So, it's a work in progress,” Mrs Hanna-Martin continued. “But a lot of people seem anxious on the roads and I see a lot of impatience and aggression but we have to manage ourselves.”
This latest incident comes weeks after Transport Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis called for drivers to slow down, noting that many motorists are found speeding during school hours.
“Just this week, a driver contacted my ministry to report that a young student on her way to Yellow Elder Primary School was almost hit by a speeding car while on the pedestrian crossing. As drivers, we must do better. Please slow down. I repeat, as drivers, please slow down,” she recently told Parliament.
It also comes as the Davis administration pushes ahead several road safety initiatives.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Education, in partnership with RM Bailey Senior High School, launched a national road safety jingle and mascot campaign.
Prime Minister Philip Davis also recently announced that a national road safety creative competition for students aged 11 to 16 will launch next month.
He further encouraged companies to join a Road Safety Corporate Influencer Network — sponsoring school zones, rewarding safe drivers, and using their platforms to amplify the road safety message.
According to officials, there were 11,157 road accidents last year, 2,234 of which resulted in injuries.
Fatalities increased from 51 in 2023 to 66 in 2024, and 15 people have already died in accidents this year.
Comments
Porcupine 1 day, 18 hours ago
A man is awaiting trial after being accused of raping two tourists in 2018? Justice delayed is justice denied.
bogart 1 day, 17 hours ago
The Ministry have the 100% power to stop any accidents between the vehicle travelling on the road at any speed to FIRST teach the students how to walk on the roads.
It does not matter how many road signs and road devices are planted on the roads unless the students have the ability to use common sense instead of using their boongie bumper against the vehicle metal bumper which always win.
ThisIsOurs 1 day, 14 hours ago
Have you seen how students cross the road?
Just this week I was driving past a police car parked "into the road" (because there's no offramp to speak of), when the door suddenly opened. I veered to the right slightly just to be cautious and predictably a police officer got out into oncoming traffic, my first thought was, if some poor driver had knocked that policeman down we would hear an account of what a wonderful officer he was and some admonishment about reckless drivers.
Pedestrians do not use the roads properly. Students are the worst offenders. They literally think it's a game. Some race to beat cars, some demonstrate bravado as if to say you better stop..and some cross like a herd of elephants....or maybe deer
And then you have the drivers who encourage them in foolishness by stopping at random places to let them cross, perpetrating the notion that drivers will always see them, will always stop or even be able to stop safely
Do something about the pedestrians. The police have tools so they say to catch drivers violating road rules.
rosiepi 1 day, 13 hours ago
And this version of Bahamian justice is why cruisers despite what that Cooper guy keeps telling us of their outsized spending habits, spend their Bahama-time onboard. And the US keeps issuing failing reports to the Bahamas on issues of corruption, crime prevention etc etc.
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