A man, left with thousands of dollars in repairs after a hit and run, is warning motorists to be on the lookout for those who flee collisions.
Head of the Barbados Road Safety Association (BRSA) John Herbert said that hit and runs appear to be increasing since police instituted the policy of not responding to road incidents in which persons are not injured.
Driver John Austin said he was on the road just outside the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic in Warrens, St Michael, two weeks ago in traffic that had slowed, when suddenly a vehicle rammed into the back of his car.
He got out the car and approached the driver, who also got out asking “Daddy, what you do to me?”
He responded by putting the same question to the young man.
“When I was talking about the insurance, he just went like that and move off,” said Austin, showing how the man got back into his vehicle and fled the scene.
Austin added that fortunately for him, the insurance company told him there was a clause in the Insurance Act indicating that because of the circumstances, his premium would not increase. He believed that the offender did not have any insurance.
“This has to stop. It’s a real shame. I think this will cost about $15 000,” he said of the damage to his wife’s car.
Austin said that since the driver fled, the police are now involved in the matter but they had said because he did not have the registration number, there was little they could do.
President of the BRSA John Herbert, who also works with Consumer Guaranteed Insurance, said based on a recent conversation with the company’s claims department, since the police policy of not responding in situations where persons are not injured, they were seeing a lot of hit and runs.
“We have quite a number of vehicles, so we would see quite a number of accidents as well. All I can say at this point is that it appears as though that is a problem.
“Interestingly enough, hit and run is something that is not discussed publicly for whatever reason. I think that the way to solve that problem is that people, who can afford it need to start looking at obtaining dash cams because dash cams carry cameras to the front and back of the vehicle,” he said.
“In those cases, they will be able to capture the footage of anybody who hits you, even from the back, and then attempt to flee. Other than that, I don’t know what else can be done because you really can’t stop somebody from fleeing the scene of an accident if they want to flee.”
The dash cam capturing the registration number and details of the vehicles would be a start unless the plates were fictitious, Herbert pointed out.
He added that such hit-and-run complaints usually involved a vehicle rather than a motorcycle or bicycle.
Herbert also made reference to representatives from the General Insurance Association of Barbados and the Barbados Licensing Authority saying that there were thousands of unregistered vehicles on the road, and suggested that may be why drivers were fleeing the scene.
“So, everybody knows that is a big problem. But, I am not sure what they are doing about it. I know the Government was moving to put in place the vehicle electronic tag system but I am not sure where we are with that right now. That was supposed to help to capture those people who are not registered or getting insurance. That has been long in coming now,” he said.
