PEDESTRIANS have suffered the most so far this year in road fatalities with 27 of them losing their lives as at the end of September, 2013. And although there has been a decrease in road fatalities at the end of September this year as compared to 2012, Traffic Officer Kevin Adonis yesterday implored all road users to observe the rules of the road to  minimise accidents and fatalities. In a special message to drivers, he said “Be defensive drivers.”The Superintendent of Police stated that it has long been observed that drivers are not courteous to other road users, including pedestrians and this is very worrying.

He noted that at the same time pedestrians need to be attentive when using the road. When crossing the road using a pedestrian crossing, do so as quickly as possible not to impede the free flow of traffic, he added.
Meanwhile, Adonis pointed out that the leading contributors to road accidents and fatalities are drinking and driving, inattentiveness and speeding.
Adonis noted that freak accidents are becoming more pronounced on our roadways because all categories of road users are being inattentive since they prefer to be on their cell phones while driving or they display total disregard for others.

Police said that there has been a decrease of seven road fatalities at the end of September 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012, with 75 fatalities from 72 accidents in 2013 compared to 82 fatalities from 71 accidents during 2012.
The period January 1 to September 30, 2013, saw reductions in relation to the other categories of traffic accidents – serious, minor and damage.
So far pedestrians have been the main road users affected with 27 such persons having lost their lives as at the end of September, 2013. In addition, 12 motor cyclists, 11 pedal cyclists, 10 drivers of motor vehicles, two pillion riders and 13 passengers of motor vehicles also lost their lives.
Speeding continues to be a major contributing factor to fatal accidents and was the cause of 52 of the 72 fatal accidents recorded at the end of September, 2013.
Traffic enforcement by the police during the period January to September 2013 resulted in a total of 65,527 cases being made against errant motorists, of this total 16,586 cases were for speeding.