Accidents mostly caused by middle-aged men, teens

Middle-aged and juvenile drivers account for similar numbers of road accidents with males accounting for 76 per cent of all road fatalities.

This is according to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi who said the 15 to 24 year-old age group accounted for 16 per cent of road accidents last year while the 45 to 55 year-old age group, 17 per cent.

During his second reading of the amendment to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2017 in the Senate yesterday, Al-Rawi said, the 25 to 34 year-old age group accounted for 23 per cent or the highest percentage of road accidents, while the 35 to 44 year-old age group, at nine per cent, was the lowest.

Data at the Licensing Office of the Ministry of Works and Transport, he said, reveal there are 1,016,265 registered vehicles and 654,895 drivers permits issued.

The aim of the amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, Al-Rawi said, was to address the speed limits and the classification of motor vehicles that can be used on the roads of Trinidad and Tobago in keeping with technological and infrastructural developments. The laws that were put in place decades ago to deal with speed on the nation’s roads, he said, are no longer relevant today.

And in keeping with the introduction and passage of several pieces of legislation to address the safe use of roads by drivers and pedestrians, Al-Rawi said, an additional nine new speed guns have been bought to supplement those already in use.

The speed guns will be further supplemented next year when spot speed cameras will be introduced, he said. The Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Spot Speed Camera Enforcement) (Amendment) Bill was yesterday introduced in the Senate to enable the use of those cameras.