‘Best mother in the world’ dies in crash

Karen Joseph, a 51-year-old businesswoman hailed by her friends as “the best mother in the world,” died early yesterday morning in a car crash on the Beetham Highway.

Joseph was the mother of one and lived in Desperlie Crescent, Laventille. She owned a bar on the Eastern Main Road in Tunapuna.

According to reports, she was driving her Nissan AD Wagon west on the highway at about 4.30 am when, near VMCOTT, she lost control of the car and crashed. She died at the scene. Police cordoned off the area for inspection and closed one of the westbound lanes, causing a pileup of traffic. Her body was removed to the Forensic Science Centre (FSC) in St James for a post-mortem examination.

At the FSC yesterday, friends and relatives told Newsday Joseph was returning home from the bar and was talking on her cell phone using a hands-free headset.

The person who was speaking with her said she suddenly heard a loud bang. Moments after, she heard panicked voices asking Joseph if she was okay, and other voices calling for help. One of the people on Joseph’s end of the line was heard saying, “They would need to cut her out” just before the line went dead.

Minutes later, Joseph’s friend received a call from police confirming she had died in an accident.

A large group of friends and family gathered at the FSC to support her only son Kerron.

He was too distraught to speak, but friends described her as a nurturing, supportive, fun-loving person.

“She was the best mother in the world, because she raised a young man in Laventille and he turned out to be the sweetest, most respectful man anyone could ever meet,” said one of Joseph’s close friends. “She was a sweetbread, a real people’s person. She was more than a friend to most of the people here. She was a mother and a mentor. She was always there to listen and give advice. And if you were wrong in doing something, she would not be afraid to tell you so.” Friends said her bar, Surfers, was like a local version of bar in the television show Cheers, because everyone knew each other. The most popular nights were Karaoke Thursdays and Soup Saturdays. They said her favourite songs were At Last by Etta James, and Body and Soul by Anita Baker.

“Any time she heard those two songs she would light up. She would be cheering the singers along and clapping. She used to tell people if they could not sing, then clap. We visited her up to last night at the bar, and to wake up this morning to this news is the worst feeling.”

Co-ordinator of the police Strategic Road Safety project Brent Batson said yesterday while the use of hands-free devices is not illegal, they still lend to the dangers of distracted driving. He said using a hands-free device is statistically safer than holding the handset, but still poses a risk to the driver.

“One has to understand that even with the use of a hands-free device, it still takes a lot of cognitive space in the brain to maintain focus on a phone conversation while driving. The best practice is to limit phone conversations while driving so that there is more attention on the roadway.”

For the year so far, there have been 103 road fatalities. This is a nine per cent reduction from the number of fatalities for the same time last year – 113.

On Thursday, Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan is expected to officially hand over nine new speed guns to police.