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02:13Welcome to Beyond the Tape.
02:26I'm your host, Mark Basant.
02:27Welcome to our viewers across Trinidad and Tobago, our global viewers and of course our brothers
02:32and sisters in the sister aisle of Green Data.
02:36As we continue to bring you tips to help you better understand road use and safety on the
02:43roadways for motorists, cyclists, passengers, even pedestrians and of course no doubt with
02:52us today is Sergeant Brent Batson of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and of course the
03:00Strategic Road Safety Project Coordinator.
03:02Mhm.
03:03And welcome sir.
03:04How are you?
03:05Sure.
03:06Good to see you, Mark.
03:07Well, I wish I was here in better circumstances, that's for sure.
03:09Yes, certainly.
03:10And of course, you know, before we go to that, of course, we have some good news for the Trinidad
03:17and Tobago Police Service.
03:18Earlier this afternoon, Commissioner of Police, Junior Benjamin and Homeland Security Minister,
03:26Roger Alexander, hand over 67 vehicles for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
03:33Finally, you know, handed over officially to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, writing
03:39about this.
03:40A couple months now, I reported about the vehicles being procured and so on.
03:45Mhm.
03:46And it is good, it is a good boost for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service in terms
03:52of needing vehicles because we always hear about instances when a civilian calls the Trinidad
04:01and Tobago, any police station rather, and we always hear the complaint or the cry from a police officer.
04:10Well, we don't have a vehicle at this time to send to respond to your call for or need for if
04:19there is something serious or even a robbery or burglary or something of the sort.
04:24So, Sergeant Batson, I know this is probably a happy moment for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
04:30Well, definitely.
04:31These are mobile assets to any Trinidad and Tobago Police Service section or branch.
04:39The importance of response is critical for us with our public safety objective.
04:48We are grateful, like I said, to have this new fleet or to add to our existing fleet.
04:54I'm sure the executive will organize the distribution to which units are in dire need.
05:00Definitely.
05:01I'm pretty sure the frontline units such as ERP and those critical suppression units will get some priority.
05:08But we also know that the commissioner is also putting a lot of focus on the responsibility of the use of the police vehicles.
05:17You know, we are well aware that these are taxpayers' resources going into investing into these assets.
05:25And we know the public looks on to that.
05:27And when they see police vehicles in a collision and stuff, we get lots of comments.
05:32We saw some Facebook comments even.
05:33People saying, wow, there's just more vehicles for the TTPS to get in accidents with.
05:39Accidents do happen.
05:40First of all, you know, I remember with the Highway Patrol, we just got some new Nissan X-Trails.
05:47And while the officers were responding to a road traffic accident and blocking a lane, a drunk driver crashed into the brand new vehicle, wrote it off.
05:57And while we were moving the vehicle from the highway, the persons of the public were passing by and saying, oh, your police mashed up a car again.
06:04You're right.
06:05So, you know, what you see, sometimes you'll see the wreckage.
06:08You don't know it was a genuine accident.
06:10And these situations occur out of the job, you know, whether it's response or sometimes it may be other driver's errors as well.
06:17But definitely the responsibility to attach to driving emergency response vehicles.
06:23And the drivers do go through the police driving school and stuff before they could actually get permission to drive these vehicles to begin with.
06:31But I see a point in regards to when the public calls and from the stations and you're saying, well, we do have a vehicle at this point.
06:40I do want to mention one thing, though, and it's for the public's benefit.
06:44When it comes to deployment of patrols for response, your main call should never be the station.
06:50Your main call should always be the command center.
06:53The 999 is that central nervous system for dispatching response patrols from and they can pull resources if you're not getting something close by.
07:02Because sometimes you'd be surprised.
07:04People might be the charge room patrol vehicle might be responding to another larceny incident or a home invasion.
07:12And then there's a shooting somewhere else.
07:14But if there's one vehicle attached to that small jurisdiction, the station might not be able to command and control a vehicle out of the air.
07:20The 999 command center can't do that.
07:22And that's why we encourage people, you know, stay on the line and call 999.
07:27Well, I know that, you know, the disbursement of these vehicles, obviously, will be based on, I know there's certain tiers of stations, police stations that is across Trinidad and Tobago.
07:40So based on the area and, of course, the size of the police station and the area that they would be servicing, then they will decide, you know, apart from the specialized units, like the special branch or two others, other vehicles, sorry, that will be sent to special evisions.
07:57They have to, you know, I guess, stagger where there's heavier populations or heavier, you know, populated areas.
08:06No, definitely. Well, like I said, so the executive will do their needs analysis to prioritize the disbursement.
08:12But I'm glad you mentioned one thing with regards to these new vehicles that come into the fleet, you know, our fleet management unit, they're very meticulous now on making sure these vehicles go into service, you know, as required by the intervals.
08:26Because, you know, the maintenance of these assets is so critical.
08:30And the last thing you want to do is do something untoward to avoid warranties and so forth.
08:35So it's really, really important that we're trying to keep even the aging fleet up with what we can.
08:40As we get on your fleet, by all means, that improves not just service, but also improves officer morale.
08:47Because when you're responding to situations and the window goes on, it never goes back up and it starts to rain and soaks the police inside the vehicle, it doesn't help, you know.
08:57So all this definitely helps both the sides of the public response, but also the officers as well.
09:03And this footage, we just want to thank Jim and Cook-Shang from the Express, but six of one half dozen of the other Sergeant Batson because there are instances when there's a lot of misuse of the vehicles by police.
09:16And we know they will probably have tracking on these vehicles, but how they handle some of these vehicles at times, people notice it on the roadways.
09:25And sometimes the condition of these vehicles, after getting it maybe six months later, you see, and sometimes they might be in a legitimate accident, but sometimes they themselves might be responsible for a minor fender bender or something with the way they're driving and so on.
09:43And that is also something we have to look at in terms of due care and how police officers treat their vehicles pretty much like any other property that they own, their firearms, you have to clean it, you have to keep it, even if you have a dog in the canine unit.
09:59So you have to treat everything equally and as important because, as you said, this is taxpayers' money paying for this.
10:05Well, I would say, first of all, it's a critical response asset, right, that we really have to make sure we have up and running.
10:13And I hear you with regards to a person seeing these vehicles damaged and, you know, sometimes months afterwards for whatever reason, right?
10:21I want to make one thing clear, though, which is when police officers are involved in road traffic accidents, we are treated no differently than a civilian.
10:36And I want to be clear on this.
10:38There are officers that are before the courts due to accidents with police vehicles.
10:43Charged on the road traffic, just like every other driver.
10:47There's no identity because I was in uniform, on duty, driving a police vehicle when I knocked down this pedestrian.
10:56You know, we are subject to the law.
10:59Lights and sirens, we always say, don't stop cars.
11:03What the lights and sirens do is request right away.
11:06We are requesting, when you hear that lights and sirens, we are requesting that you give us priority, right, so that we can respond to this emergency.
11:14And the challenge is nowadays, Mark, there are people, we would have lights and sirens on and the traffic is not moving.
11:22And some people would say, well, I'm not moving for them.
11:24Have a look.
11:25They're moving with groceries.
11:27All kind of stupidness has come out of people.
11:29And these are genuine emergencies.
11:31Now, people might say, well, the police brought that on themselves because, okay.
11:34But if it was your family, you'd wish somebody give us that right away to move through.
11:39And trust me, we will get out of the vehicle and move you.
11:41But I always remind people that you cannot judge everybody just by that one incident that you saw or on comments made on Facebook or online.
11:53You know, we say, boy, I see this vehicle doing so.
11:54All right, come and report it because these things could be reported to the PCA.
11:58These things could be reported to complaints.
12:01Yes.
12:01All right, we have standards that we have to be held accountable to, and we know that.
12:05All right, but we still have a job to do.
12:08Interesting that you do.
12:08All right, and allow us to do that.
12:10You mentioned right-of-way.
12:13And we had a footage from Tobago yesterday, and we're going to show it again here, involving a police vehicle and another SUV.
12:22This is the intersection here.
12:24Of course, I am not familiar with the location in Tobago.
12:27Yeah.
12:28I, as I said, and Mr. Rambrath yesterday, we did not see stop signs on either side, but there is an intersection.
12:35And we have what appears to also be a fairly new police vehicle as well involved in this accident.
12:44I don't know if you would like to.
12:45Well, I don't, to be fair, I do have details on it.
12:48However, and like I said, the camera footage shows some facts of what appears to be the police vehicle on the main road.
12:55The, you know, I saw some other comments where persons were saying, well, you know, the officer didn't have any lights on, so he didn't have emergency.
13:04Hang on, and this would be a good opportunity to tell the public, sometimes, I just want to be clear, we have something called stealth response, where we do not use lights and sirens, but we respond for a reason, all right?
13:17For a reason, where a home invasion is happening, and we're trying to make sure we intercept those perpetrators right there.
13:24Every time we see lights flashing a mile away, they're gone.
13:27Even the vehicle that is canvassing and waiting outside for them, they spot that blue light a long time and gone.
13:34So, it's not always that because you didn't see lights inside, it doesn't mean it was an emergency response.
13:39I just want to make that clear.
13:40Not saying that's what this situation, because I do have the facts.
13:42Yes, yes, yes.
13:43But, you know, when the comments come out, I just thought they had to strike a little balance, too.
13:47No, and I respect that, but, you know, I don't think a lot of the public will know sometimes that the officers will have to,
13:55obviously, responding to a specific situation that they operate in stealth mode.
14:00Yeah.
14:00And it could work for and against, let's say if in this instance, that they were responding to something in stealth mode.
14:06Definitely, definitely.
14:07They never reach because, you know, of this accident.
14:10And that's it.
14:11And this is why, like I said, no matter what, though, even in our training, we always remind everybody,
14:16you know, right-of-way, Mark, is a theory.
14:20You only have right-of-way when it's given.
14:22When you take it and everybody else said, well, I'm going ahead with mine, that's where the problem lies.
14:29It's the same thing when I always tell people, you know, well, I sounded my horn.
14:33You know, I was coming and I sounded my horn and you still came.
14:37Well, Mark, your horn is not your brakes.
14:39So instead of sounding your horn, why didn't slow down as well?
14:43Because the time to slow down has already passed.
14:45And now you only have two options, pull or hit, because there's no stopping now.
14:49And this is some of the decision-making, at least these unfortunate situations on the roads.
14:54Yes, certainly.
14:54And we're going to talk a little bit about that later on.
14:57But we're going to take a look now at our headlines.
14:59So those are some of the headlines within the last 24 hours.
15:23And unfortunately, this morning in the Prince's Town area, police officers were called to the scene where they found the body of a burnt man near a housing settlement in Bonitento.
15:38The footage, of course, by express photographer Dexter Phillip unidentified, but it seems that it looks like it's a suspected homicide.
15:46That would be then 164 for the year.
15:51Comparatively, if you feel last year, it was closer or just over the 200 mark.
15:55So that is a considerable improvement, of course.
15:58And I know that the state of emergency would also have been one of those things that would have curtailed or suppressed criminal activities and their movements over a period of time.
16:09But this person, I mean, this person looks like somebody that, you know, probably perhaps was missing for some period of time.
16:20And, of course, we'll have to wait on autopsy and more forensic evidence for the CSI team to bring everything in.
16:28But, I mean, it goes to show we have our work cut out.
16:33And those vehicles that we got are definitely going to help us, you know, assist in our public safety efforts and, of course, our crime fighting efforts as well.
16:43Our condolences to the families.
16:44But I know that you said they haven't identified the bodies yet.
16:47Not to my knowledge, at least I didn't see anything over the last couple of hours.
16:52But I imagine, you know, sitting, this was video footage from Captain Rambarat and his team on the search and rescue there.
17:02Police officers on the scene, of course, called to the location after the discovery was made sometime mid-morning, I believe.
17:10And I know there are a couple of persons that we profiled yesterday that is missing.
17:16And we don't want to be too presumptuous.
17:19No.
17:20And, of course, it makes, you know, when these discoveries are made, it spreads fear quickly into the communities.
17:25This is the body here.
17:27Of course, we had to kind of center it.
17:29Drill it out a bit.
17:30But it's really unfortunate that this victim meant that it is nice.
17:35It's not a common type of, you know, I always say when you have those type of homicides.
17:42Well, we are ruling the homicide, but those types of incidents are suspected, yeah?
17:45Yeah.
17:46And, you know, it's something that's unfortunate.
17:49And we know it spreads that fear of crime into communities quickly.
17:53But we know the investigation will be ongoing.
17:55So we'll have to see where it goes and what that tragedy involved.
17:59I imagine, you know, it must be very traumatic for a number of families who have missing loved ones and outstanding for quite a while.
18:07And, you know, it's very difficult to cope because, you know, you have to wait for a lot of tests.
18:12There's a lot of anxiety and so on by family members of various persons.
18:16But I think with time and I guess whatever evidence is left on that crime scene or what they can identify in terms of I saw something that looked like a jeans foot area and any other, you know, distinguishing things that they find on that scene will also assist the police in being able to kind of get some kind of identification.
18:38Sure.
18:39Or have certain members of a specific family who might have an idea.
18:43It might be somebody that they know.
18:45They know or somebody that may have been involved in something else.
18:49You know, a lot of these things, sadly, when we get some information is linked back to, you know, sometimes gambling, people owing people stuff, didn't pay a debt, even, you know, illegal whappy, all kind of ridiculousness that triggers.
19:05Yes.
19:06And sadly, you know, the path goes straight into violence, you know, instead of dialogue and stuff like that.
19:13But again, if you're feeling threatened or and stuff like that, by all means, you know, we still encourage you to call 9-1 and come into the station, report the threat, you know, so we have it documented.
19:23But again, we'll, it's still early on, so we'll see what direction this goes.
19:27All right.
19:28We're going to take a short break and we'll be back with more.
19:30Stay with us.
19:43We're going to take a short break and we'll be back with more.
20:13We're going to take a short break and we'll be back with more.
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21:09Driver, tiredness and fatigue is a killer on our roads.
21:31Too many roll-over crashes and head-on collisions are caused by drivers falling asleep behind the wheel.
21:38Signs of driver tiredness include struggling to keep the eyes open, yawning frequently and slow reaction times.
21:45A tired driver may also wander across the centre line and drift across other lanes, over road markings or follow other vehicles too closely and have trouble remembering the last few kilometres.
21:58Stop and rest before it is too late.
22:02There is no quick fix or miracle remedy.
22:12Our bodies simply need to rest.
22:14Most adults need a minimum of six hours of sleep per night.
22:19When we don't get enough sleep, our brain cells do not communicate effectively, which in turn affects our visual perception, physical reflexes and memory.
22:30For your own safety, always start your journey refreshed and well rested.
22:39To remain alert and focused behind the steering wheel, plan your journey and your rest stops.
22:47After two hours behind the steering wheel or every 200 kilometres, find a safe spot and take a break from driving.
22:55Stop, refresh your body and mind before continuing your journey.
23:02Let's share roads safely and responsibly.
23:06Visit the website arrivealive.co.za for more information on road safety and preventing driver tiredness.
23:15Well, certainly some very, you know, interesting and what obviously needed information for drivers across Trinidad and Tobago.
23:26And I don't know if that might have been tiredness, you know, that would have been part of a factor in the accident that occurred in Claxton Bay.
23:37I know a couple of days ago on Saturday night, I believe it was Sunday, where four persons lost their lives, our family, our mother, father and their daughter and their friend.
23:50And the fifth person, of course, in critical condition at the San Fernando General Hospital.
23:55That's right. And like I said, when we responded to that, because I was one of the high patrol officers on the scene, I came down after I got the call and it was so gut wrenching to see that that impact took so many lives.
24:13You know, persons are always saying, you know, well, the fellow was drinking. Hang on. That investigation is ongoing. Yes.
24:20But what what it always what I always remind everybody is that this is truth to the outcome of collisions.
24:29I want everybody to understand that when a vehicle is moving, energy is moving.
24:35And when a vehicle, when you lose control of a vehicle and it deviates off the roadway, once it is impacting something.
24:43So as I always say, it's an unintentional consequence. That energy has to go somewhere.
24:48So when you have unrestrained occupants, that you have uneven distribution of force through the human body.
24:55Yes. You know, three point seatbelts that helps distribute force evenly.
24:59You look at the occupant compartment, still fairly intact.
25:02You know, so this is why we keep on emphasizing the importance of seatbelt use.
25:07We went down there with a site visit with the chief traffic engineer afterwards.
25:10And, you know, we we saw some areas where we believe the road could be improved, both from a lighting standpoint and maybe from additional guardrails.
25:19Because, you know, a lot of persons nowadays, Mark, they drive. They love SUVs.
25:24SUVs, Vickler choice, without a doubt.
25:27Now, once you go to the dynamic of SUVs or pickups even, you know, you're changing what you call the center of gravity to that vehicle.
25:36And once it moves higher off the roadway, then its rollover propensity increases.
25:42Once that vehicle left that roadway, that in addition to the decline, that was on the energy.
25:49Because, like, let's just assume it was going to speed limit of 100 for now.
25:52All right. Let's not say you're speeding and stuff. I'm going to give them the full 100, right?
25:56Yes.
25:57Picture that vehicle deviating off that roadway down a decline at 100 kilometers an hour.
26:05Persons inside, as that vehicle starts to roll more six, seven times, according to eyewitnesses, what's happening to that human body inside?
26:13So, when we're out there giving tickets for seat belts, this is why we don't need to give warnings for that.
26:20We pass that mark, right?
26:22You should not have to get a warning to wear that one thing almost guaranteed to save your life.
26:29And these are the tragedies when we're out there doing our job to prevent.
26:35People think we're out there, oh, you're trying to raise revenue for the government.
26:38That has nothing to do with it.
26:40And so I could dispel that ridiculous talk or the police are out there to make a quota.
26:45We don't have any quota. We're going out there to detect violations or offenses.
26:50And once it's detected, that's the officer's job to deal with it.
26:54If he chooses to warn, fine. That's his discretion.
26:57But if he chooses to issue that fixed penalty notice, fine.
27:00If it is an arrestable offense, then you'll be arrested on point.
27:03But again, under the Road Traffic Act, these laws are put in place to level the playing field for public safety.
27:10Everybody has a right to a safe journey.
27:12You and your friends, you leave your journey, you're doing the right thing, you're buckling up, you're obeying that road traffic laws.
27:17But now we enter risk.
27:20How do we enter risk?
27:21Because UMAC cannot control the other people on our road map.
27:25So you don't know who's drunk.
27:27You don't know who's tired.
27:28You don't know who's distracted.
27:30And therefore, your attentiveness is what's going to make the difference.
27:33And your ability to react.
27:35And that's why it's so critical for everybody to understand our role out there is to level that playing field so everybody goes home safely.
27:42And that brings us to another, you know, we're in a time coming up with graduations, young students graduating and so on.
27:51And I know you remember the accident involving the twins near the cross-crossing area.
27:56Oh, yes.
27:57Yeah.
27:58I remember it.
27:59It feels like yesterday.
28:00Crying for justice in cross-crossing crash deaths.
28:03That was the Waddle twins.
28:05Yes.
28:06That was the Waddle twins.
28:07And I know you would just want to give a message to those young drivers.
28:11Or, you know, this was the horrific crash.
28:14Yeah.
28:15You might be able to remember this.
28:16You know, it tragically took the lives of two beautiful young women.
28:20Yes.
28:21The Waddle twins.
28:22And if you all remember, it was around what you call graduation time and so forth.
28:25It was.
28:26We know that persons, you know, proms are coming up and so forth.
28:30Some have started already.
28:32And, you know, it's not like before motor vehicles are a little bit more affordable.
28:37You know, so people have an extra car to lend their son or their daughter to use.
28:42And sometimes, you know, you think you've gone through enough training with them to say,
28:49okay, you go ahead, you know.
28:52I want to remind persons that you have to have that chat with your teenage driver.
28:57You know, make sure that they understand the responsibility of operating that motor vehicle.
29:02I also want to remind parents, and this is just research back data.
29:07This is not anecdotal facts.
29:09When young drivers are together or young persons are together in a vehicle,
29:15and we're talking about 21 and below, the risk level does tend to increase.
29:21You know, so that's why we still encourage if persons are going to those proms and so forth,
29:26I would encourage the parents or somebody adult to take them, you know, pick them back up.
29:33Even if it's 2 o'clock in the morning or 3 o'clock in the morning, wherever possible.
29:36You know, that allows them to have a good time, and that allows you as a parent to have peace of mind,
29:41not wondering if they're going to come back home safely.
29:44The people say, yeah, well, you know, you have to let them often.
29:47You have to let them grow up.
29:48Okay, there's plenty of time for that.
29:50All right, there's plenty of time.
29:51Remember, they just got their license.
29:53You know, we don't rush for that either.
29:56You know, there's lots of time for that too.
29:58But around this time, you know, I saw, I met Ms. Waddell, and she's having some issues still with regards to that case.
30:07If I'm not mistaken, you know, it still went to inquest.
30:13I'm going to try and follow up on the status of that case because I know they were looking at that through the inquest to decide to proceed to charge the driver with any offenses.
30:23So, and they're not the same.
30:27No mother, Mark, is the same.
30:30Father as well, but mothers especially, is the same after they lose their loved ones.
30:35And it was heart wrenching, you know, at the scene of that road traffic crash.
30:41When I was next to the body of the young girl, and she was so tiny, I didn't realize she was next to me.
30:46You know, she was covered.
30:48I just thought the gurney was just there.
30:51And I thought the occupant was still there.
30:54I didn't realize that they extricated her already.
30:56Yeah.
30:57And it was only afterwards when, you know, the sergeant, other sergeant, they said, that's her there, Sarge.
31:02And it was so heartbreaking, you know.
31:06And to know that's preventable is what hurts so much.
31:09All right.
31:10I hope that those young drivers on the roadway are listening.
31:13And, of course, they will try to operate their vehicles if they're given the chance to drive smartly.
31:19No drinking and driving.
31:21Yeah.
31:22And observe the speed limits.
31:24We're going to take a short break and we'll be back.
31:26Stay with us.
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32:18Go.
32:19Go.
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33:15WHO and its partners have reviewed what measures can significantly reduce road traffic deaths
33:29and injuries. The result is Save Lives, six effective strategies for reducing the impact
33:35of road traffic crashes. Speed management is one of the six most effective strategies to
33:41make roads safer. The faster a vehicle is moving on the road, the more likely it is to be involved
33:48in a crash, resulting in injuries or even death. Speeding is a major risk factor, but speed management
33:56interventions can influence a driver's speed. Set speed limits appropriate to the function
34:03of the road. Enforce speed limits using speed cameras to identify offenders and applying appropriate
34:15penalties such as demerit points on a driver's license. Modify roads to calm traffic, particularly
34:23where road users mix with chicanes, roundabouts, road narrowing, and speed bumps. Finally, require
34:30car makers to install new technologies that can warn speeding drivers or even slow down the
34:35vehicle for them. Investing in speed management will save lives.
34:46So another bit of important information there about road safety and I know that you would want
34:52to make some pronouncements and walk us through some figures as well. Well, our strategies from a
35:00road policing standpoint, when we're out there, we're actually supporting our UN mandates and the United
35:07Nations has a second decade of action to reduce road traffic deaths by 50 percent. So far for this year,
35:16I believe I'll see just now in this statistic, I think we're like 17 percent lower. Oh yeah, we're 12 percent
35:22lower in road traffic deaths and 21 percent lower on fatal accidents. Right. And whereas that's the,
35:28it's still the right direction, you know, these preventable tragedies, we always say the goal in what we do is zero.
35:36You know, we've seen these reductions start up and we had an increase last year. This year we're trying to
35:42suppress it more with more speed operations because we had some challenges on last year and, you know,
35:48we had some nice interactions with the Ministry of Transport where they spoke to us about some new
35:53technology coming on stream. We have some new technology coming on stream soon that's really
35:58going to enhance our enforcement capabilities and which really focuses again, as you said, on speed
36:04because speed, Mark, and this is what I always mention to everyone here, speed is really going to be
36:13that force multiplier in that crash. It's going to be the function of the outcome. The faster you go,
36:19there's a saying, the faster you go, the greater the mess is going to be. And that could be whether
36:22or not you lose control, it could be whether or not you live or die or other people live or die. And that's
36:29why it's so important every so often, check back your speedometer, check and see whether or not that
36:35speed is too fast for the conditions that you're driving in. What we're seeing here on this slide
36:39here is that, interestingly enough, February, March, and April, we actually saw these nice decreases
36:47in road traffic that's for those three months. Yeah. But then as the rainy season started kicking in me,
36:53jump back in with regards to fatal accidents. And unfortunately, like I said, with June, we're really
36:58hoping to Steve that off, um, with some awareness, even, and this is why we were very happy, you know,
37:03Bionni Teeth invited us to come and chat again about our road safety, because you're always
37:08welcome to do that. But we're also seeing some nice changes in the EPA. For a good example, we're seeing
37:13that increase in January coming out of, um, you know, Christmas time, but then we saw that nice study, uh,
37:20decrease, um, for those months. Substance of decrease in fatalities in April, 45%. Yeah, yeah. And accidents as well.
37:27And then you had that horrific jump in May, 50% increase. Yeah. And again, we can, we can see why,
37:34you know, how we ended off there, you know, and, and so we hope, like I said, in that, that second, um,
37:40you know, going into the second half of the year, we're still going to be focusing on our activities
37:45from enforcement standpoint, but as well as education as well, because it can't be that we take it our way
37:50out of being the road safer. You know, it can't be that. You know, the goal is to make the public want
37:56to choose to be safe, to choose to put on that seatbelt, to choose to want to pay attention to how
38:02fast they're driving. And I always remind persons that, you know, speed limits are set, Mark, in good
38:08conditions. The highway speed limit is 100. Yes. But if it's raining, it can't be 100, Mark.
38:14Yes. And it's why we, when we investigate, uh, the culpability when it comes to fatals, you know,
38:21the conditions at the time that you were driving, even though you weren't breaking the speed limit,
38:26your speed may have been too fast for the conditions, you know, at that time.
38:29You talk about conditions and I, I mean, we look at some of the, the, the accidents there in terms of, uh,
38:36on highways, um, main roads, et cetera. And we talk about the weather and rainfall. Um,
38:45is it permissible or is it legal? I should ask rather if I see a lot of people when they're
38:49driving and you can barely see in front of you when the rain is really badly, bad, sorry,
38:54that a lot of persons would tend to put on their hazard lights, uh, so that persons in the back or
39:01rather you could, you could drive knowing that they can at least see you. Uh, is that legal?
39:07Well, okay. So it's not illegal. Right. Yeah. Yes. It's not illegal. Right. Right.
39:14Is it a best practice? Um, probably not. So our, our advice to motorists continues to be consistently,
39:21you know, in, in poor driving conditions, heavy rain and so forth, put your headlights on,
39:27not your hazard lights on. And the reason why we, we, we kind of discourage your hazard lights on,
39:31then numerous situations where people forget their hazard lights on, continue down the highway,
39:36change lanes, people not aware that they're trying to change lanes and so forth and little bit of
39:40communication issues. I, we understand what people are trying to do to raise the visibility of the
39:44drivers. But once your headlights on, your taillights on, so. So it's kind of 50-50, right?
39:49Well, like, like I said, my job is to guide you on what the best practice is then.
39:53The hazard lights on, on that best practice, right? Sometimes. But it's not illegal.
39:58Right. But sometimes it's, it's, it's, I mean, if the rain is really, really bad, I mean,
40:01your red lights is not enough. You need to see something that's like pretty much like a lighthouse,
40:06you know, where that light is revolving all around and people are far out at sea. Right.
40:11They can see it. Right. Uh, yes. Well, the, the lighthouse, usually the light is not orange necessarily.
40:18No, no, I'm not saying this.
40:19But I just saying that the, um, so I see a point where the vessel went in, but that's,
40:23I was just having a conversation with someone. I just wanted to get clarity on it. So it's like
40:2850-50, but a little bit on that side as well.
40:31On our side.
40:32But a lot of people did have on their headlights and so on.
40:35They do. And that's been a cultural practice.
40:37Because it's, you can barely see half a car length in front of you.
40:41Yeah, yeah.
40:41So it's, it's, I mean, you don't know what's coming behind you.
40:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
40:45And I mean, once you practice not using it during the period of changing lanes.
40:50And you remember to take it off.
40:51And you remember to take it off, you should be all right.
40:53Should be all right.
40:54We hope the drivers are late to remember that.
40:56That's for answering that question, of course, for some
40:58highly curious people and persons who think they were in the right 110%.
41:06All right. We're going to take a short break and we'll be back with your calls. Stay with us.
41:11All right.
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42:27Welcome back to Beyond the Tape. I'm your host, Mark Wissand, joined today by Sergeant Brent Batson, strategic coordinator of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and, of course, traffic branch.
42:52And, you know, we've had concerns raised about home invasions across the country.
42:58And, no doubt on Monday, in the Eastern Division, an elderly couple, you know, they were in their homes around 7.20 in the morning, a very early morning, when three men accosted them.
43:10And, they took a quantity of cash. Their vehicles got valued at $270,000, a Toyota Yaris and a Toyota Corolla and Zeddy.
43:20Quick action by officers of the Southern and Southwest Divisions recovered both vehicles at the Rav, the Raintree South, our approach.
43:28Excellent. Well, that's a great ending, from the point of view of the person getting back their property, until nobody being hurt.
43:35Yes.
43:36And, again, being close by, and this is why we're really, really happy to get more vehicles. More vehicles, more response capabilities, quicker response for the public, and for calls for help. So, that's awesome.
43:48All right. We have our first caller in line. Caller, good evening.
43:53Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Bassard, and to the officer, I believe it's Mr. Batson.
43:58Yes, yes, sir.
43:59Right. I want to comment on the demerit system, if it's useful to stay with it, or to revamp it and come up with something else.
44:13Yes. I am trying to find out, first of all, if there was any sort of research done with the implementation of 100 kilometers.
44:29Remember, there was an increase in the speed limit.
44:32From 80 to 100, correct. On the highways.
44:34Yeah.
44:35How did that affect accidents, et cetera, on the road and death?
44:43The other study, I am not sure if you all know it, says the implementation of the demerit system, if that was done too, to see the effectiveness of implementing those.
44:56Because I know the increase in the speed limit was possibly to deter the frustration of people on the road.
45:08But that might have been one area to mitigate that sort of frustration, because the port was another one.
45:15And the other issue, I would like to find out, if anyone's studies was done on basically road safety with respect to the physical infrastructure of the roads, the road markings, the road highlighting of the pillars and things.
45:35Because, for example, I have noticed, in a lot of places in North America, they use an orange on some of the pillars.
45:46In Trinidad, you see the orange paintings on some of the pillars, I think, somewhere down by the market.
45:53So you see, because I know one's eye is more sensitive to orange.
45:57So I would like to know, and I would like to know the police input, because after 11 o'clock in the night, when you are driving,
46:06is it feasible to drive at 100 kilometers?
46:10Because they give people a card band that that is within the law.
46:14Because if you're driving at 100 miles, and there is no basically road markings, rainfall, your visibility is poor.
46:25So that could contribute.
46:26And the other thing is, I think the best organization to basically look at road safety respect to the physical infrastructure is you, the police,
46:36because you all are always on the road in the night patrolling, and you all will see it in front of your face.
46:43If that is passed on to the relevant authority, I'll listen up right to your comments.
46:48I want to have an idea.
46:49Thanks a lot, Kola.
46:50Right, Kola, yes.
46:51Give me a lot to unpack here, right?
46:53As quick as you can.
46:54Yeah, as quick as I can, right?
46:56So, first of all, Kola, you hit the nail on the head on that multi-dimensional aspects that impacts road safety.
47:07One, the physical infrastructure.
47:09Let's start with that.
47:10Lighting, guardrails, pillars, reflective lighting to assist drivers to see hazards on that roadway.
47:19When things aren't there, because you have to aid drivers.
47:22Drivers are so distracted now, Mark.
47:24You know, you have to get their attention early.
47:27The challenge is, sir, is that, of course, as you know, where the police can give input.
47:32What we don't have is the ability to coerce another agency to paint road markings, to bring more signage.
47:39We write correspondence recommending it.
47:42Lots of correspondence.
47:44Yes.
47:45You know, and then we have to wait.
47:46And then we get feedback from them saying, you know, well, we don't have any money right now for road paint.
47:51We don't have money for this.
47:52So we do have money for that.
47:53And unfortunately, so again, it falls back on us for presence when really the infrastructure could be a key part.
47:59You also mentioned the Mary Point system.
48:01That is a driver management part.
48:04So let's look at what you hit.
48:05You hit the roadway.
48:06You hit the other part, which is your driver part.
48:08Making sure safe drivers enter that roadway.
48:11We've had, unfortunately, we do have some data that shows, for example, one of the photos on Saturday night where a taxi driver crashed into a guardrail.
48:21Yes.
48:22Killing his front seat passenger was disqualified.
48:24He wasn't supposed to be on the road.
48:26Oh.
48:27You know, so the Mary Point system and the research behind it.
48:31I wish we had more time.
48:33You know what I mean?
48:34So that we could have looked at it to look at how we could improve.
48:39But like I said, the police are not policymakers.
48:42So we go with what laws are passed and we have to obey the laws and we have to enforce it.
48:47If certain decisions are made, if you take away, these are different, there are various tools that we use to make the road safe.
48:55That was one of them.
48:56If we're not going down that road, then we're going to have to increase other aspects.
49:00Whether it's through technology, more speed enforcement, more speed guns.
49:03But as you correctly said, more lighting and safer infrastructure to mitigate outcome.
49:09And, of course, safer vehicles.
49:12You know, so even vehicle inspections and all these things really important contribute to the safer roadway itself.
49:19So, caller, you're hitting me on the head on the dimensions, without a doubt.
49:23All right, we have another caller in line. Caller, good evening.
49:27Good evening, gentlemen.
49:29I know everyone is talking about speed and everyone is talking about web roads and potholes.
49:36However, there's something that always concerns me.
49:40Our white lines and our highways and our roads.
49:44Most of the highways and even the smaller roads which need these lines to identify your lanes, they are not marked.
49:54There was even an accident that you all showed, I think it was last week or not yesterday, where the two lanes, it was a crossroad.
50:03And one was flying just as fast as the other on both crossroads and impacted one of them with a police vehicle.
50:10Yes.
50:11And there was no, no stop lane, nothing, nothing.
50:16Why aren't we focusing on painting our roads?
50:20Please, I'm sure, Mr. Barton, you could put a word in, but we need to get on that.
50:25Thank you, gentlemen.
50:26Thanks so much, caller.
50:27And we did show that video yesterday.
50:29And Sergeant Bassam will respond right after this break.
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53:06Welcome back to Beyond the Tape. I'm your host, Mark Besson, joined today by Sergeant Brent Batson, Strategic Coordinator for the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and the Traffic Branch.
53:26I know you want to quickly respond to the caller.
53:28To the caller, yeah.
53:29Caller, again, even pinning off the previous caller of the importance of, you know, clear lines and signage and marking.
53:38And sometimes it becomes faded. It becomes confusing to drivers because a driver might know they're approaching what is the major road because you're familiar with the area.
53:47But a driver who's unfamiliar thinks that they're still on that major road, unfortunately, at that cross line.
53:52So it's a great path. And as I said, it is a key path for improving on road safety with regards to signs and lines.
54:00And definitely areas of improvement. That's where local government comes in.
54:04And the ministry is working closely with them to identify these gaps.
54:07All right, we have our last caller. Caller, good evening.
54:10Yeah, hello. Good evening. Good evening. Sergeant, good evening to you. Mark, good evening. Good evening to you.
54:16I just have a minute, so I want to be short. Sergeant, could you explain to me why at the peak I traverse the east-west corridor, the Kurev Junction interchange by the Kurev there.
54:30Why is the police and the amalgamated security speeding through that light with siren?
54:36And the public is at 7 o'clock in the morning, 8 o'clock in the morning. They're so busy.
54:41And all they do is put on siren and fly. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Why is that?
54:46Okay. All right.
54:47And my next question is, why you have a police, the police in the area, you have six police walking behind each other.
54:55Why do they don't split up in group, two, two, two, and go to different sections, a Kurev, and see what is happening?
55:02Why do they have to be six of them walking along, walking among each other? Okay? All right?
55:07So I could talk to you for weeks, but I just have a minute.
55:12Yeah. Understood. Well, I'm pretty tight on the response. So I just want to mention two things.
55:17Regardless of the amalgamated and the police escorting them, I know that since the vigil courts,
55:22you know, we don't have as much prison transport as it used to happen.
55:26Usually, sir, I just want to be clear. I don't like to comment on the dynamics of the operation.
55:32I don't know what amalgamated is moving, that they have to proceed at some, you know, a certain manner.
55:40But, you know, please remember, once you hear lights and sirens, give way to the emergency vehicles.
55:46Sometimes you're not aware what it is they're doing or what they're transporting,
55:49and it's in everybody's best interest always.
55:52And the other question with regards to the, what was the second part again?
55:59Patrols. Six officers. Yeah, the six officers patrolling with them.
56:02Yeah. They are, in a lot of cases right now, sir, we have a lot of probationers.
56:07So you have to match the amount of probationers to supervising officers.
56:13So when you see them sometimes doing that community walkabout, we have new officers, so we have to stay close.
56:19You know, they're still young, they're still learning the work, and their safety is priority number one,
56:23which is probably why you see them in those groups.
56:26All right. I don't know if you have time to quickly show that brazen shoplifter in a Rima pharmacy.
56:32We don't. But, you know, just outlining, you know, this road safety thing, it's extremely important that as we go into the rainy season, Sergeant Batson,
56:42everybody has a role to play on the roads, passengers, as you say, motorists, cyclists, even pedestrians,
56:52because it's extremely important we don't want to see scenes like this.
56:56Yeah. And it's frustrating this afternoon. Yeah. Loss of control. And the highway.
57:02And look at the energy of the crash. I mean, it's a miracle nobody was killed.
57:05Yeah. That car is badly damaged, yeah.
57:07Now you can still see a victim, yeah, still inside, in the car, yeah.
57:10Still trapped in the vehicle, and hope for that she was not too badly hurt, but it seems that she is moving.
57:17You know, and you always hear the persons nowadays on social media, you know, saying everybody, take your time.
57:22Yeah. You know, and that's the message we talk.
57:24Even if you're driving a four-by-four, I always have to remind persons, hey, first of all,
57:29persons who are driving these Hiluxes and stuff, that's a two-wheel drive vehicle unless you're engaging four-wheel drive.
57:36So that means you will skid off the road like a normal car.
57:39Two, if you have no load in the rear tray, especially if it's a leaf spring, that's a very unstable vehicle.
57:45So please, everybody's goal is to reach their journey safely.
57:50And if you behave in an unsafe manner, you jeopardize all of us.
57:55Indeed.
57:56Indeed.
57:57Sergeant Maxine, we want to thank you again for coming onto the program and educating us all on proper road safety.
58:03Remember, rerun tonight at 11.30 if you missed today's show.
58:07And rerun again tomorrow at 11 o'clock.
58:11The TV6 News is up next and we'll see you back here tomorrow at 6.
58:14Stay with us.
58:15I'll see you then.
58:16Stay with us.
58:22Stay with us.
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