Sinanan urges citizens to be road safe

MINISTER of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan has said Government can put proper infrastructure in place, but it is the duty of the people in TT to be more responsible on the nation's roads.

Sinanan was speaking on Saturday at the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims at the Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain hosted by Arrive Alive, along with sponsors such as Sunshine Snacks, Ansa Motors, Guardian Group and BHP. It was the seventh edition of the event with yesterday's theme being Life is Not a Car Part.

Sinanan said over the last four years the number of road fatalities have decreased, but said this year TT had a spike in road deaths with 105 for the year so far. Last year there were 112 road fatalities.

The minister gave his commitment to better infrastructure. "We are in charge of the roads of TT and that does not necessarily mean just building roads and building an overpass. It is about building them safely for the users and we want to commit to continue to do that."

Sinanan, who highlighted some of the walkovers that the Government constructed recently, including in Diego Martin (Four Roads), said people must practice safety.

"Building all these walkovers and then you still have videos circulating of parents and children running under the walkover defeats the whole purpose. We all have personal responsibilities, infrastructure can't solve the problem, we all have personal responsibilities and if the Government does not do its part and we the citizens don't do our part we will never be able to achieve that zero that we are gearing for."

Sinanan pleaded to everyone in attendance. "As the Minister of Works and Transport I want to beg all the citizens let us be responsible. Not only for ourselves as the drivers, but the persons in the vehicle and the people on the side of the road."

President of Arrive Alive Sharon Inglefield said TT must never settle concerning road accidents. "When lives are at stake Arrive Alive will not compromise. We will not accept mediocrity. In TT this year 105 lives were lost and many, many injuries. We can't even track the injuries. This is not acceptable...the only acceptable figure is zero."

The event also included a ride and a run around the Queen's Park Savannah. Among those who attended the event were Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith and former national cyclist Michael Phillips.