00:00Former Minister of Transport Rohan Sinanon says road users need to practice vigilance.
00:07Over the weekend, several road traffic accidents were recorded.
00:11Reports indicate that among them, two people were killed and two others injured in a crash along the Uriah-Butler Highway early Saturday morning.
00:20There was also an incident on Sunday involving a police vehicle conveying a prisoner and a Toyota Yaris on the priority bus route.
00:30No one was fatally injured, but the occupants were taken to hospital, treated and discharged.
00:36Speaking with TV6 via phone, Sinanon called for more attention to be paid to road safety.
00:42Once you're behind the wheel, once you're the designated driver, you should not be indulgent in any sort of drugs or alcohol.
00:52Speeding is a major cause of fatal accidents and in most cases you find that alcohol forms a part of that influence of speeding.
01:06Either trying to get to somewhere, not being in full control of yourself, not even understanding the speed that you're driving at.
01:13And, you know, one road fatality disrupts an entire community.
01:19He reminded that this was the reason his government introduced the demerit point system.
01:25But with a new administration now in office, he says, it is for them to decide the next steps in tackling road safety.
01:32I try, you know, avoid them to comment on, you know, the current happens of the government.
01:41My philosophy is that there's a new government in place.
01:44They will have new policies and programs.
01:47And you must give them a chance to rule it out.
01:51The future will tell us whether those policies and programs were of any benefit, was it better, or, you know, what really was the results of it.
02:06The former minister says he hopes road safety remains a priority of the new government,
02:12adding that the previous administration implemented a system that once cut accidents by over 50 percent.
02:19We place a lot of emphasis on road safety.
02:25That is why we came up with the whole demerit point system, the U-turn system,
02:31and the records will show that we were the only country in the Western Hemisphere
02:37to achieve that global record of having a more than 50 percent reduction in fatal road accidents.
02:51We have seen some deviation from the previous policy,
02:55but I'm just hoping that the focus remains on road safety,
02:59and whatever is implemented, you know, has that in mind.
03:03The idea is to go to zero road fatality.
03:07Efforts to reach the police road safety officer for comment were unsuccessful.
03:13Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:15Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:16Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:17Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:18Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:19Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:20Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:21Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:22Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:23Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:24Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:25Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:26Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:27Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:28Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:29Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:30Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:31Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
03:32Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.
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