Citizens want drivers to be more responsible

In the days following a motor vehicle accident, especially when a life is lost, residents and family members may try to put the blame on speeding drivers, bad roads or the young and reckless. OBSERVER media went into St John’s and asked a cross-section of residents about the road fatalities that often make the headlines.
A pensioner fittingly summarised the responses of the men and woman interviewed and said once a person gets a licence they disregard the rules of the roads. “They think they’re professional drivers and dem go guh drive inna speed, ask me wey dem a go? Because Antigua ah just 108 square miles. So why should you drive a car with so much excess force to kill yourself. A car is a little weapon,” she said.
A woman walking with her young daughter on High Street said there are numerous speed checkpoints on the roadways yet no officers are parked with speedometers checking motorists as they pass. A female art-and-craft vendor said, “I blame the young people, they are crazy with their driving and drive without a care. It’s so upsetting, right now they should start putting the age of consent for driving for a later age.”
She questioned the difficulty of the exams drivers are required to take, “because right now it’s too easy, as soon as they finish from [driving] school they want the car.” A frustrated mother said, “Dem just ah ask the government for fix the road fa speed and dem wouldn’t go on the race track fa speed.”