SEAT-BELT legislation went into effect in November 1999 under the Road Safety (Protective Devices) Regulations. As the name implies the objective was to promote safe use of the roadways by making it imperative that motorists use seat-belts and motorcyclists use helmets.Some concessions were made affecting taxi operators who pleaded that their livelihood would be affected if they were forced to use restraining devices for children or seat-belts for other backseat passengers.
There is as yet no clear indication that these legal restraints have had positive effects. As police figures show, road fatalities in the year the new regulations went into effect totalled 295 in 262 accidents. Just over a year later in year 2000, the toll reached 296 in 256 accidents.
Since the start of 2001 the fatalities have reached 45 in 40 accidents. The worst accident thus far was that involving a station wagon which crashed along Constant Spring Road in Kingston last Sunday. At last report six of an incredible 12 persons packed into the vehicle have died.
The police report that this vehicle was licensed to carry five persons. On that score alone it was operating illegally; quite apart from the fact that it was certainly not equipped with 12 seat-belts.
The authorities over the years have apparently enacted legislation on the assumption that the intended effects will be automatic. This goes for laws against offences ranging from night noises to littering of the streets; the latest may well be the ill-advised Offensive Weapons Act.
We regret the unfortunate deaths of the six persons in last Sunday's tragedy. But given the state of traffic mayhem in urban centres and rural highways we see little hope that legal restraint will tame the current madness.
