Road safety programme launched in Saint Lucia

Friday, January 29, 2010 – The motoring public is being sensitized to the importance of road safety, through the “Reach Out and Always Drive Safely” or R.O.A.D.S programme. The programme was launched last Friday by the Community Action Programme for Safety (CAPS), as part of efforts to help curb the number of vehicular collisions and road fatalities on the island’s roads.

CAPS consultant Mr Linwall James says, the R.O.A.D.S programme also aims to reinforce the need to respect traffic and road regulations.

“We will be having regular town hall meetings to reach out to the communities in both English and Kweyol. We will have radio and television public service announcements and use the various theatre groups to drive home the message of road safety. The whole idea is to create the awareness in people that we have to make the road safe, and use the road properly,” James says.

The new road safety initiative has been endorsed by the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force.

Commissioner Mr Ausbert Regis says local police are very concerned about road safety. He says the R.O.A.D.S programme is very important given the social and economic impacts of dangerous driving.

“Law enforcement cannot do it all. We need an attitudinal change by road users both motorists and pedestrians. We need that attitudinal change which will come about through our educational programmes geared towards sensitising members of the public and our road users.”

Last year Saint Lucia recorded thirty-one road fatalities and several other vehicular collisions.

The Community Action Programme for Safety (CAPS), says it hopes to use the “Reach Out and Always Drive Safely” programme to help reduce that number of vehicle accidents by ninety-percent by 2015.

The slogan for the campaign is “Drive to Save A Life.”

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