Two Barbadian authors have been praised for producing road safety books that reflect and consider the nuances of Barbados’ culture and road infrastructure.
They are Leon Blades, author of Keeping You Safe – Children’s Highway Code, and Mark Corbin, who jointly wrote Avoiding Collisions in Barbados with Mr. Blades. Both books were launched on Saturday, at the Prince Cave Hall, Station Hill, St. Michael.
Lauding the authors, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Works, and Water Resources, Santia Bradshaw, said she believed the books would contribute significantly to the Barbadian landscape and to road safety on the island.
She added that as far as she knew, the only other book written by Barbadians on the topic was the Barbados Highway Code.
“I want to commend both of you on the publication of these books; they will contribute to the Barbadian landscape on road safety. We can never have enough literature on road safety, and the reality is that books like these obviously create awareness about this extremely important issue, which affect us whether we are pedestrians, commuters, or drivers,” she said.
Minister Bradshaw stressed that while road safety should be inculcated in everyone, it needed to be introduced to youngsters ideally before the age of 16, which is when teenagers qualify for driving permits. Although numerous children traverse to and from school, the bus stand, and other places without adult supervision, she observed that many do not use the roadways correctly.
“We have a responsibility to protect them from injury and death. It is also important that we encourage these positive behaviours, so that they become habitual as they grow older,” she said.
Further praising Mr. Blades for engaging the youth, she encouraged both men to take the products of their penmanship further by “marrying” the books with technology, so the content could also be converted to video.
Mr. Blades, a retired police officer with over 40 years’ experience in traffic management with the then Royal Barbados Police Force, said he was driven to write Keeping You Safe – Children’s Highway Code following years of using overseas resources to conduct road safety activities within schools.
“After the first Barbados Highway Code was written in 1996, I realised that aspects of it related to children and safety, and I thought well I could perhaps do something,” he stated.
Stressing that he wanted to localise resource materials and create a legacy, he urged each primary school in Barbados to get a copy of the book, which he dedicated in memory of his son, Lemar Blades, who died in a vehicular accident in July 2021. Mr. Blades also thanked his co-author, Mark Corbin, for working with him on the book Avoiding Collisions in Barbados.
Mr. Corbin, who also authored the book Caribbean Road Safety, disclosed he had a personal connection to road safety and traffic management, as he had lost his sister at the age of five, and his 16-year-old brother, on the roads in Barbados.
Now the Director of Network Resilience at Transport for West Midlands, United Kingdom, Mr. Corbin said that by working with Mr. Blades he values the need to preserve, record, and share knowledge that experienced professionals acquire over the years.
“Our people, and their knowledge and understanding of how we function, are important to the solutions. Avoiding Collisions in Barbados is an important factor…and I hope as you read our book, that it will make a difference and we will be able to see a future with zero deaths on our road networks.”
Chief Technical Officer of the Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources, Cheryl Bennett-Inniss, wrote the Foreword for Avoiding Collisions in Barbados. Stating that the book speaks to how road users could remain safe within the unique Barbadian environment, Mrs. Bennett-Inniss described it as a “fine companion document to the Highway Code and a useful tool for linking with the Road Traffic Regulations”.