Spills of oil and construction material cause accidents on our roads

EDITOR: Driving on the road while it is a privilege, it is not without its challenges. Safety we know ought to be a top priority. However, there are two very important occurrences on the road that many times makes the road unsafe and presents a very difficult challenge to safety.

Of recent times there have been OIL SPILLS on the road, mainly on the Nelson Mandella Highway. On two recent occasions, these oil spills caused accidents. The unfortunate thing is that in most cases someone is held responsible for the accidents. In most cases it is one of the drivers of the vehicles and not the driver of the truck that spilled the oil on the road.

The last oil spill between Campden Park and Lowmans which caused an accident, one of the drivers was fortunate to avoid any serious injury since the vehicle had rolled onto another vehicle, thus preventing it from tumbling over and so averting a serious injury.

Something needs to be done. I guess it is hard to find a solution so as to avoid these things from occurring. However, the truck ought to be held responsible. The moment it began to spill, the truck ought to stop and immediately report it. The road ought to then be immediately blocked off and the public made aware. The truck driver, owner and vehicle license plate ought to be made available to the police. So, in the case of any accident the driver ought to be part of accepting liability.

Another challenge to road safety is trucks transporting materials of sand or gravel where some of the materials are deposited in the road. When these materials are deposited on the road it can make driving challenging since the vehicle can slide and hit another vehicle or overturn. We know that it is hard to apply brakes on these materials and we also know that it can cause a vehicle to slide.

These trucks ought to be given cases for transporting materials in a way that can cause serious accidents. Road safety ought to be utmost priority.

Also, sometimes sand and gravel are on the sides of the road and this can be dangerous. Many times, the material occupies part of one lane. So, vehicles have to divert to the other lane which can be dangerous and also sometimes these materials slide into the road and make it difficult for driving since it can cause vehicles to slide. This practice should be made illegal.

Let us have safe driving on the road. Let us do all within our power to make driving safe.

God bless SVG.

Kennard King