2 accidents lead to 3 weekend road fatalities – UWI STUDENT DIES IN CRASH

TWO WOMEN, including a final-year UWI student who was due to graduate next week, were among three people killed in separate accidents over the weekend.

These latest fatalities have brought to 83 the number of people killed in accidents so far this year.

On Thursday, police issued a statement warning both drivers and pedestrians to be more careful on the roads after noting an eight per cent rise in road fatalities, including 14 people killed over the last six weeks.

The latest road-fatality victim is Kerissa Maria Dowrich, 22, who had just completed her BSc in information technology with a minor in international relations. Two other people injured in this accident included UWI Cave Hill campus graduate Dana Corbie, and an unidentified man.

Dowrich, the daughter of Luke Dowrich and Karen Thompson, of St Vincent Street, San Fernando, died at the scene of the accident at Alice Street in La Romaine on Saturday shortly before midnight.

Reports indicate she recently got a temporary job at Fun Station in La Romaine. When she got off work on Saturday night, Dowrich went out with friends to lime and buy food.

According to a police report, at around 11.31 pm, a vehicle carrying a TDW registration driven by a man from Avocat, Fyzabad was driving along the South Trunk Road.

On reaching the traffic lights, the Toyota Aqua in which Dowrich was a passenger reportedly came out of Alice Street on the western side and tried to merge into the southern lane of the South Trunk Road.

The Aqua collided with the left side of the Fyzabad man's vehicle,  and both then collided with the metal barriers along the road. Both vehicles were extensively damaged.

While Dowrich was pronounced dead at the scene, Corbie and the other passenger from the Aqua, as well the occupants of the other vehicle, including the driver, were all taken to San Fernando General Hospital.

DMO Dr Santlal later ordered Dowrich's body removed to the San Fernando General Hospital mortuary for a post mortem. Fire officers led by FSO Forde washed and cleared the road of debris. Cpl Boodoo is continuing investigations.

At the Dowrich family home, there was much weeping and sorrow on Sunday, with family members saying they were too distraught to speak with reporters. A relative was heard saying of Dowrich: "She was a sweet young woman who everybody loved.”

Dowrich was a relative of former journalist Laura Dowrich-Phillips.

Dowrich-Phillips, who now lives and works in the Turks and Caicos Islands, told Newsday this was a double whammy for her family, as another relative had also passed away on Sunday morning. She said she was trying to fly back home to be with her grieving family.

On her Facebook page, she posted: “Condolences to my cousin Luke whose daughter Kerissa died in that horrific accident last night. May she RIP."

In Point Fortin, tears continued to flow on Sunday as relatives of Kerlan Sutherland struggled to come to terms with her unexpected death.

Sutherland, 44, of Parryland, was one of two people killed on Friday night on the Archibald-De Leon Highway, which  the Prime Minister commissioned on Saturday. This highway links San Fernando to Point Fortin. The other person killed was Sutherland's friend Ottis Roach, 29, of Sobo Village, La Brea.

Police said Sutherland was in a silver-grey car driven by Roach which was on the new highway near La Brea,when it collided head-on with another vehicle. Roach and Sutherland died on the spot.

Two occupants of the other vehicle were taken to the Point Fortin Hospital.

Sutherland’s brother Kerdell told Newsday the family was surprised when police came on Sunday morning asking them to help identifythe body of a woman who had died in an accident hours earlier.

Family members accompanied police to the Point Fortin hospital, where they identified Sutherland's body.

In a TTPS press release on Thursday, according to a Newsday report, the Traffic and Highway Patrol Branch said despite police efforts to promote road safety – including speed and driving under the influence (DUI) enforcement exercises, police visibility and public education – drivers continue to be “errant and irresponsible.”

The Newsday report added that head of the branch, Snr Supt Clint Arthur, said under his command for 2023, traffic officers have issued 5,364 speeding tickets and arrested and charged 416 drivers for DUI-related offences.

He described the arrest rate for drunk drivers as “extremely disturbing.” Over 40 drunk drivers are being arrested every month.