{"id":22983,"date":"2012-06-25T08:19:26","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T12:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=22983"},"modified":"2012-06-25T08:19:26","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T12:19:26","slug":"transport-policy-unit-to-address-road-user-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/06\/transport-policy-unit-to-address-road-user-issues","title":{"rendered":"Transport Policy Unit To Address Road-User Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Nassau roads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASSAU, The Bahamas \u2013 Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation C. V. Hope Strachan said recently that cognisant of the need to prevent road traffic injuries and fatalities in 2002, the Government under the leadership of then Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin established The Transport Policy and Planning Unit (TPPU).<\/p>\n

\u201cInterestingly, it was established under the Institutional Development and Strengthening Component of the New Providence Road Improvement Project,\u201d Minister Strachan said, while giving background information on the unit, during her contribution to the 2012-2013 Budget Debate in the House of Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mandate of the TPPU was to focus on transportation policy and planning, traffic management, road maintenance, public transportation and road safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the TPPU\u2019s work began \u201cin earnest\u201d in 2004 and the unit developed a National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) and provided a strategic framework to address road safety over a six-year period (2006-2012).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Strategy is multi-sectoral \u2013 involving agencies concerned with transport, health, education law enforcement and other relevant sectors,\u201d Minister Strachan said.\u00a0 \u201cIt was also multi-disciplinary involving road safety specialists, engineers, urban planners, health professionals and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the strategy took into consideration the needs of all road users, particularly vulnerable road users.\u00a0 The unit also involved groups from Government to private sector, non- governmental organisations, the mass media and the general public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn mid 2005 the NRSS went to Cabinet for endorsement, so as to release it as an official document for circulation within The Bahamas,\u201d Minister Strachan said.\u00a0 \u201cSuch an initiative provided a common frame work and collaborative approach to addressing Road Safety in The Bahamas on a sustainable and by-partisan basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed out, however, that while the document was published, it was not distributed nationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt languished on the shelf between 2007 to the present time,\u201d Minister Strachan said.\u00a0 \u201cMoreover the time lines set forth 2006 to 2012 in the strategic frame work have all but expired.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TPPU engaged two specialists between 2004 to 2005 and completed reports to address the NRSS, she said.<\/p>\n

Minister Strachan said that the strategy addressed, among other areas, the following: developed a revised crash-data form to assist the public in their traffic investigations, reviewed and updated the existing Highway Code, and reviewed and updated the existing school curriculum programme and developed a curriculum for senior high school level students with a driver\u2019s education programme including theory and practical lessons.<\/p>\n

It also developed a Drivers Instructions manual with efforts to influence, the skills, habits and attitudes of drivers for the long term; developed \u201cCode of Practice\u201d for driving schools and criteria for instructors qualifications; reviewed current licence categories for The Bahamas and made recommendations to improve the arrest system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NRSS developed a simple registration system for driving school instructions for various classes of drivers licences,\u201d Minister Strachan said.\u00a0 \u201cThis document is under review at the Attorney General\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said they also developed a Drivers Examination handbook, which is now being used in the examination unit by all examiners.<\/p>\n

The TPPU also drafted legislation for the licensing of Driving School and qualification of instructors, with legal penalties.\u00a0 This draft, she added, is still presently at the Attorney General\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Minister Strachan said that, in 2011, an international body named The Commission for Road Safety, together with The United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, launched a global initiative conceived as \u201cA Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was launched in 100 countries including many of our neighbours in the Caribbean like Jamaica and Barbados,\u201d she added.\u00a0 \u201cThe initiative is to prevent five million deaths from traffic accidents in 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is reported, she pointed out, that 1.3 million people worldwide die each year in traffic accidents. Traffic accidents are also the No. 1 cause of death for young people worldwide, she stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this initiative is implemented and we are able to increase awareness and decrease the numbers of deaths on our streets, we could count the programme a success,\u201d Minister Strachan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWork on this project is also part of the responsibility of the TPPU,\u201d she added.\u00a0 \u201cUnfortunately work on the project did not advance beyond the initial stage and consequently we are a year behind our counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is anticipated that we will again begin work on this initiative to try to make up time lost to date.\u201d<\/p>\n

By ERIC ROSE
\nBahamas Information Services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cognisant of the need to prevent road traffic injuries and fatalities in 2002, the former Government administration established The Transport Policy and Planning Unit (TPPU).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-22983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-roads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}