Wake up my people!

Fri June 7, 2013

Editor: On April 26, 2013 I wrote an article with the caption “Dangerous Practices.” This I followed up with another captioned “Delay is Dangerous” on May 10. Well, well, well it looks like as Vincentians we have a mindset that, come what may nobody is going to make us change.{{more}} Well I have news for you. Change or suffer the consequences. On May 28, at around 1:36 p.m., I was travelling from Calliaqua into Kingstown. On approaching Villa Lodge I realized that the traffic was very slow. For a moment I thought that maybe a trailer carrying a container was responsible for this. Lo and behold it was a blue jeep, whose license number I will not disclose, that was causing the slow flow of traffic. It was not until, like the other vehicles in front of me, I overtook the blue jeep that I understood why the traffic was going at such a slow pace. Well, this one took the cake; this one blew my mind! There was this elderly man driving the jeep with a child standing in his lap. He was holding the child with his left hand while trying to drive and control the vehicle with his right. After overtaking, I pulled aside and waited for him to come alongside me. When he did, I asked the man if he was serious about what he was doing. The man did not even give me a second look, but continued driving while still holding the child on his lap.

I am appealing to parents/guardians who are truly responsible, please stand up and take your rightful place in protecting and controlling your children. My call, no, my cry to drivers is “please protect the nation’s children and buckle them in.” That’s what seat belts and car seats are there for. Wake up my people; we have been sleeping too long. Children are a precious resource and our only hope for the future, because they are the ones who would take over when we are gone. Oh, before I go, I am appealing to the traffic police officers, please take note and be more vigilant because these things happen right before your very eyes every day.

Clifford E. Gould