Ban scooters or bury riders - Claude O. Skelton-Cline
Just yesterday, Tuesday, March 24, 2020, 27-year-old VIslander K'Shawn S. Thomas of Greenland, Tortola, was the Territory's latest road fatality.
Thomas killed when he became involved in an accident with a fuel truck on Gene Hill, Tortola. According to reports, the young man was run over by the vehicle.
Too much Recklessness - Skelton-Cline
'There are too many deaths taking place with these scooters... either we ban them or we will keep burying you," Mr Skelton-Cline told his listening audience on the Tuesday, March 24, 2020 edition of his radio show 'Honestly Speaking' on ZBVI 780 AM.
"There is a level of recklessness that is happening in this country, week in, week out with these scooters... somebody again just died."
According to the man of the cloth, "I know they are all kinds of arguments out there [that] banning is not the answer, it may not be the answer but I'm going to ask you something, you want to keep burying your young people?"
He said if not a complete ban, authorities should consider an age limit where below 25 years of age would not be allowed to traverse on scooters or other similar cycles, since they tend to put people's lives at risk.
Families also impacted
The Honestly Speaking host also noted that as part of the accidents, law-abiding citizens are then impacted after crashing into the riders who are often young men, 'it's not right that somebody has to go home tonight and two families are mourning."
Skelton-Cline charged, "Either we ban these things or we will keep burying our young people because what should be a meaningful, helpful mode of transportation is becoming something else."
He said if no age limit or ban is put on scooters and similar vehicles in the territory, the burials will continue.
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43 Responses to “Ban scooters or bury riders - Claude O. Skelton-Cline ”
Utter nonsense
The truth is, though, too many of our young men are doing nonsense with these scooters - they ride without helmet, they don't obey the stop signs, they speed and they interfere with the mufflers so that the bikes become a nuisance to society. Most of the culprits are our indisciplined students.
I have seen them in action on Lower Estate Road and I see them also at Pasea. The more disturbance they caused, the more approval they get from their peers.
The madness will only stop when drastic actions are taken because the deaths don't seem to phase them.
Banning the scooters would be unfortunate because I see many Asians,Caucasians as well as a few our own people riding in a very responsible way. I think the police should go on a drive to rid the streets of all indisciplined/illegal scooter riders. After that they could tackle other indisciplined/illegal motorists like some of the truck drivers who drive at very dangerous speeds on our roadways.
I wonder if scooters are permitted in the US Virgin Islands, because I do not see them in St Thomas behaving recklessly as I do in the BVI. To each his own. If the youngsters want to ride bikes and behave lawlessly, so be it. Let them continue. They will soon have even larger machines to do more recklessness. Someone with locks rides a big bike at times, and he has that thing humming.
I say the riders just need to obey the traffic laws. Stop when necessary, use the lanes marked for motorists, wear your helmets and ride the bikes on both wheels at all times and you will be safe.