Police to get tough with aggressive trailer truck drivers

Some local truckers who operate tractor trailers/container trucks, also known as 18 wheelers or big rigs, are, on a regular basis, creating unsafe motoring situations for themselves and other drivers.

“I can tell you, these guys believe to themselves that they own the road, Officer in-charge of traffic, transport and garage, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Parnel Browne told to SEARCHLIGHT on Monday, November 11, 2024.

Speaking from his office at the traffic department of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), ASP Browne said at times, some of these drivers engage in very dangerous driving practices.

“Without any warning sometimes, these guys drive their vehicle in this aggressive way that they run up on you without alerting you.

“Sometimes coming around a corner, they just run their vehicle as if it is a car they are driving, with no regard, telling themselves ‘you are small, I am big, what you going to do? You going fight against the bigger man?’”

He stressed that this type of driving is “ridiculous” and must be brought under control by any means necessary, and indicated that the traffic department is going to take action against the drivers who engage in potentially life-threatening practices.

“There needs to be some regulations in terms of how they operate,” ASP Browne commented, while noting that the Transport Board is in the process of looking into the operation of the container trucks and their drivers.

He said discussions on this are taking place, and touched as well on hours of road use by these vehicles, among other things.

“These men, they are very reckless on our roads, very reckless,” stressed the ASP who pointed out that drivers who operate these vehicles overseas have better road ways, fewer corners, and flat roads on which to function but local drivers behave as if they are operating in the same environment as drivers in the bigger countries.

“These guys, they operate as if they own the road, as if the road was built for them and you are just asking them please if you can use the road for a time. They bully you really bad on the road,” the top traffic cop said.

He was adamant that the traffic department is not going to sit and watch the problem continue and escalate.

“We are asking the owners and operators of these trailer trucks to start operating with more common sense… because what they are doing can cause accidents, incidents, injuries and loss of life,” ASP Browne pointed out, while also adding that even the way some of the trailers and open loads are secured, or not secured at all, is a major problem.

“We are going to do what we have to do in order to ensure that these persons- when they are operating, it is safe for them to operate.”