Alcohol has caused over a quarter of road deaths and drivers are encouraged not to drink and drive during the Carnival season, says acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams. “Our research has shown that alcohol is a main contributor to 30 per cent of road deaths. If alcohol is such a major contributor, as a responsible organisation it is important for us to reach key stakeholders to partner with us and find ways and means to create safety on our roadways.
This campaign of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) is partnering with the performing community like all artistes and entertainers. We want people to act responsibly with the consumption of alcohol,” he said. Williams was speaking yesterday at the launch of the road safety programme titled Wrong Mix: Alcohol Lyrics, iRoadsafe Public Awareness Campaign, on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of-Spain.
The campaign is sponsored by the TTPS and the Copyright Organisation of T&T (COTT). The police and COTT will work closely with soca and chutney artistes to carry out and promote the campaign. Williams also said breathalyser testing sites would be set up at fetes so that people could walk in to test their alcohol levels.
“Part of our approach for the Carnival season is to set up at key locations where there are events and fetes...voluntary breath testing sites where the public are given the opportunity to use. If people consume alcohol which will impede [their] capacity as a driver, people can walk in and ask for a test and the Police Service will permit patrons to be tested so they can see the alcohol level in their system. There will also be officers carrying out breath testing on the road ways,” he said.
He said the campaign reflects “contemporary policing” that the Police Service was now practising. “The TTPS in practising contemporary policing is seeking to find innovative ways of reaching out to citizens as we seek to make the roads of T&T safe. We are encouraging behavioural changes in society which we know can positively impact the way in which persons make safer and more responsible choices, especially around festive occasions like Carnival,” he said.
George Singh, CEO of Southex and promoter of the Chutney Soca Monarch, who also spoke at the launch, said no songs at the Chutney Soca Monarch semifinals on Friday night would have contained lyrics glorifying alcohol. He called on all artistes during the carnival season to send out a positive message so that people attending fetes and other carnival shows would be responsible on the roads while driving.
“Before 2011, half of the songs at the Chutney Soca Monarch contained lyrics that glorified alcohol and were related to domestic violence. In 2011 we reviewed the rules that disallowed such lyrics and I am proud to say that in 2012, 2013 and 2014 we had songs free of this type of thing,” he said.