The news that heart bypass surgery was successfully performed here for the first time on Saturday is a shining indicator of the progress that has been made on several fronts by the Ministry of Health and the public/private sector partnerships which will also see important developments in kidney health care and other areas.
But while relatively speaking high-tech advances have been made in public health there are gaps and soft points in so many other areas that sadly lead to distressingly high fatalities. The carnage on the highway is a prime example of the primeval state of the road network, the laws that govern traffic and the enforcement of these laws. This sad state of affairs was blindingly lit up by the deaths on Thursday of 10 persons from one ward of Linden on the Soesdyke/Linden highway.
Ten lives were cut down in a flash of speed and recklessness. The poignancy of their last moments was wrenching. Evelyn Adams had not been feeling well and was returning home from a prayer meeting when her life was snuffed out. Carl Austin died without seeing the child his wife is pregnant with while the Lashley family lost two relatives including an endearing two-year-old. Sixteen-year-old Delroy Mitchell’s mum had constantly nagged at him over his minibus conducting ways. She had wanted her son to take up a trade. He died without fulfilling her wish. “I always talked to him, ow lawd is this my reward?” she lamented. Carl McCalmont had been married for only three months when his life flashed in front of his eyes and ended abruptly. Colleen Bacchus was preparing to attend the funeral of her beloved grandfather when she too lost her life. And so it continues.
The tragedy has predictably catalysed the usual chatter and frenzy of visits by government and law enforcement officials. The obligatory visits have been made and noises sounded. But has anything changed? Will anything change?
The only meaningful response the government can marshal will be to take the sweeping measures that have been advocated by Mothers in Black and other groups to rein in the traffic chaos and rigidly enforce them.
Two features of the calamity stand out. This minibus was speeding up a hill – in the most cruel twist one of those killed is the brother of the driver – and it slammed into an unlit truck that had broken down fully loaded with timber.
Neither of those two features will relieve the authorities of guilt. For years now, until their facial muscles have been numbed, members of the public have been demanding that steps to be taken to curb excessive speed especially on the highways: Soesdyke/Linden, the East Coast and others. Nothing has been done. The government has been paralysed by inaction and lack of will. A desperate situation required desperate measures and there were only two in the offing: mechanically limiting the maximum speed of minibuses and trucks in particular or employing a rigid radar gun system for finding speed violators and applying penalties that deter. Neither of the two has been implemented. Will the deaths of 10 people in one accident sway the authorities?
As to the parking of the truck on the road, occasionally there is a punctilious campaign to ensure that nothing encroaches on the parapets. How come no one in authority moved against the unlit parked truck, many of which can be seen in all parts of the country and in the city? This is not the first time that one has been involved in such an accident. So what will the government do?
There is a whole series of other steps that can be taken. Swiftly introducing the breathalyzer tests and introducing a new culture for the road hogs to learn good sense are other areas.
It should also not be ignored that the majority of the drivers of these buses do not own them. They are hired by the owners of the buses and ordered to bring in a certain amount of money a day failing which they would hardly be paid anything or worse, lose their jobs. The owners of these buses therefore bear a moral responsibility for the deadly speeds at which their drivers operate.
Minibus operators heroically filled a vacuum opened up by the collapse of the state transport system in the 70s. But like many other such births bringing order out of disorder is much more difficult; the minibus operators have not been able to self-regulate and the state’s abdication of responsibility for the provision of an adequate legislative framework and necessities such as purpose-built parking zones is unacceptable.
It is left to be seen how the Minister of Home Affairs and the Traffic Chief in particular react to this latest tragedy. The families of the ten will also be watching very closely.
