NCOPT President Issues Road Safety Appeal

A series of road accidents, resulting in numerous injuries within a mere twenty-four hours, has moved the President of the National Council on Public Transportation (NCOPT) to issue a road safety appeal. Between Wednesday at about 11:00 a.m. and Thursday at about 7:30 a.m., Saint Lucia recorded three multiple-casualty road incidents. Saint Lucia Fire Service (SLFS) personnel transported 18 victims to the OKEU Hospital after three vehicles collided at Goodlands, Castries on Wednesday. In addition, emergency personnel transported eleven students and a bus driver to St. Jude Hospital on Thursday. The bus taking the students to the Anse Ger Secondary School ran off the road and down a slope after an apparent brake failure at Grace, Vieux Fort. Minutes earlier, emergency responders transported five people to the hospital after a truck ran into the back of a minibus at Aupicon, Vieux Fort. NCOPT President Godfrey Ferdinand expressed surprise at the road accident spike. “In my humble opinion we are the best drivers on the road,” Ferdinand said regarding bus drivers. He observed that some motorists could not drive on some roads where minibus drivers operate daily without causing accidents. The NCOPT official said it did not mean there are not...