In last Saturday’s issue of The Voice I wrote an opinion piece which referred to the reckless (and dare I say deliberate) killing of pedestrians, commuters, and passengers in unfortunate vehicles. I received quite a bit of reaction from a number of people including close friends and colleagues. They all expressed support for my concerns and a sharing of my anger, but many felt the language was too strong. One colleague gently said to me, "never write in anger". Though my tone was deliberate (for the purposes of shock value) I apologize to those who were offended by it.

In the past few years, there has been unprecedented escalation of the number of fatal accidents in St. Lucia, and yet, I am unaware of any major aggressive campaign to curb this phenomenon. There ought to be large billboard signs everywhere asking motorists to slow down. In our schools, every teacher should be asked to get involved in a campaign to teach our young about the dangers of reckless driving. A most powerful means of getting through to adults is through their children. There is documented evidence that anti-smoking campaigns which educate school children, have had a major impact on parents kicking the habit. Children would say, "mama, daddy, you will die if you continue to smoke, and I want to have you around for a long time". We can achieve the same effect with an anti-reckless driving campaign. The same Ministers of government who appear on TV quite often can do us some good by mobilizing a non-partisan movement to curb vehicular accidents in our country. Dare I say, eradicating reckless driving in St. Lucia is or ought to be an election issue. Perhaps we have not reached that critical point yet, where everyone of us feels threatened. As along s it is somebody else’s family member that is dying, well, we can at least say "poor soul". We can continue to feel invincible.

In retrospect, perhaps the core off the offensive element in my article was that I implicated all of us, myself included. Surely there are many of us who are disgusted. But how many of us are taking action? How many of us are waiting for someone else to take action? I would hope that we all are willing to do more than just nod our heads in support. Let us begin with ourselves. Let us slow down. If we know any of our friends who drive recklessly, let us talk to them. If we see seniors and school children trying to cross the street, then let them pass. Overtake only in overtaking zones. Respect pedestrian walk ways. I would ask that our government place one or more pedestrians walk ways near every school in the country with a police officer controlling traffic at the start and end of the school day. I would ask that our laws get tougher on any motorist involved in an accident on a pedestrian walk way.

Two final parting thoughts. We need to let politicians know when we are angry! If we keep our anger inside, they will continue to abuse us. I know that our government has successfully cultivated an atmosphere where most of us anticipate and/or fear reprisal if we air our views. We pay their salaries, they are our servants. Secondly, commuters need to stage a strike against bus drivers to drive home the point that we do not give them the right to take our lives into their own hands. Those of us with cars should participate by offering rides to commuters. After all, communters are paying for a comfortable and safe journey to various destinations. While not all bus drivers are reckless, the "good" ones should be pressured into demanding that their Association do something about the "bad" ones who are hurting their business and their reputation.

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