Residents of Beausejour, Gros Islet, are calling for increased caution from drivers after a goods truck nearly overturned and struck a pedestrian in a recent incident on Beausejour Road.
The alarming moment, captured in a video now circulating online, shows the truck veering off the road.
The stretch had recently been resurfaced after sustaining damage over time and was visibly wet at the time of the incident.
The roadway has seen collisions – some fatal – over the years. In 2023, 50-year-old Gaspar Satoute lost his life following a crash along the same stretch.
Residents have also expressed the need for increased safety measures.
Jim Joseph, president of the Beausejour Community Group, acknowledged the desire for speed bumps but stressed the importance of driver responsibility.
“People have to take responsibility. Does every road have to have speed bumps for persons to drive cautiously?” he told St Lucia Times. “I know we need them but I am saying I know the police are doing a lot, but people need to start taking personal responsibility. That’s a residential area. Please drive with due care and attention.”
Joseph said he plans to conduct a site visit and assessment to determine where speed bumps should be strategically placed.
“I think we need to do an assessment. I certainly will do one to see where [the speed bumps] need to be strategically placed,” he said.
Gros Islet’s parliamentary representative, Kenson Casimir, also expressed the need for attitudinal changes among drivers and announced his intention to implement safety measures.
“First and foremost, I think we need to have a national conversation on speeding in Saint Lucia,” Casimir told St Lucia Times. “I don’t think necessarily that all roads you develop you need to put speed bumps. I think there’s a wider issue with our drivers and the way they operate.”
He added that without a shift in attitudes, infrastructure improvements may continue to be undermined.
“Unless we have some form of attitudinal change, we will continue to have those issues where a parliamentary rep will develop a particular area’s infrastructure and it will be misused,” Casimir said.
Addressing concerns specific to Beausejour, the minister emphasised the need for added safety measures in residential zones.
“But as it pertains to the Beausejour area, this is not a highway, in communities such as Beausejour where we have a number of residents and we have a school, the idea is definitely to put in those sleeping policemen to ensure that people use those roads in a safer manner,” he said.
Casimir acknowledged recent road upgrades in the area, noting that a second phase of construction will include the reinstallation of speed bumps near the Saint Lucia Sports Academy.
“As you would know the construction of that road started some time ago. We had to go through the phase of ensuring that we saw where the soft spots were before we put the final layer. We’ve put in the final layer and so those areas that had speed bumps in times past we will be ensuring that we put back those speed bumps especially in the school zones.”
He added that discussions with the Beausejour Community Group will continue to determine where speed bumps are most needed.
In response to the incident, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force redirected the public to recent road safety guidance issued by the Department of Road Safety and Traffic Investigations (DRSTI).
“I am tasked with the responsibilities of putting measures in place, to ensure a safe environment for all road users across the island,” said Patrice Francis, an inspector with the DRSTI. “To achieve this goal, we need the support and cooperation of the general motoring public…”
The RSLPF said, under the leadership of Vern Garde, the department has added more personnel to strengthen enforcement and ensure a greater, more coordinated presence on Saint Lucia’s roadways.
The video clearly shows the reason for the accident:
1. The pick-up truck was parked, pointing in the wrong direction (obviously lazy, and flouting the rules of the road).
2. The on-coming car (silver or white) did not have the right of way, but dangerously passed the parked pick-up truck.
(THE COMBINED SITUATION CREATED BY VEHICLE #1 & #2 WAS CLEARLY THE CAUSE OF THE ACCIDENT!)
3. The goods truck was forced into emergency braking to avoid t-boning vehicle #2, thus saving the life of the driver of vehicle #2.
They’re always speeding on this road. 24/7 esp on Sundays. I’ve almost gotten hit twice while in the bushes at the side of the road waiting for vehicles to pass. They drive recklessly with no care or concern for anybody or anything (that stretch always has roadkill, even birds). If you’re not driving, your life is at risk. Something needs to be done.
What is that Minstry of Infrastructure really doing? I mean you resurface a road but refuse to reinstall the traffic calming devices afterwards…..look at the Chauseee where even after months of Completion there are NO pedestrian crossings…..look at this video….where are the speed bumps that were there before? Come onnnnnnnnnnnn!
Too many speed bumps especially for emergency vehicles like the ambulances. Drivers need to drive more cautiously especially on wet roads. How many speed bumps will yall put?
There is absolutely no need for a conversation. Aren’t we tired of those talk shops that get us nowhere? Every week, there is always some ministry urging, pleading, beseeching, begging a group to change its behavior. Get a grip! Those persons will not change because there are no ramifications.
Get the tools of enforcement. Get LIDAR speed guns or RADAR speed guns and decibel meters. They have been known to modify wayward behavior.
There is nothing wrong with that road it’s good when it was bad they cuss King every day . St Lucian’s on a whole is the problem, everybody mashing gas to go nowhere. Speed bumps here speed bums everywhere that will do little to change bad habits of some of these drivers, the government needs to invest in technology to collect revenue off these heavy foots by placing speed cameras in some of these notorious zones, trust me once it’s posted and they know it will cost them X amount for speeding they won’t speed in those areas .
When your Transport Ministry is headed by a Primary School grad and the Chief Transport Officer does not even have a drivers license but a marriage ring gvn to her by a Party candidate u must get no progress. The main issue is Driving School Instructors. Imagine a lady with no drivers license have to oversee and their mode of teaching. As we add speed bumps we having more accident. Check the stats so how can that be the solution.
How come nobody is mentioning the use of the lowly “breath analyzer” in the conversation, isn’t it to obvious?