I would like to firstly commend the Government for having the will and courage to introduce speed guns in T&T. While there are many clamouring for raising the speed limit, there are many people who are satisfied with the present law of 80km/hr.
In all my 35 years of driving, I must say this is absolutely the first time I am seeing order on the roads. Of course, there are some who will break the law, but generally, there is law and order never seen before on our roads.
But why should people clamour for a higher limit? Where is the evidence that you would fall asleep while driving? Lets analyse the situation. Let’s say someone is driving from Golconda to Grand Bazaar, which has a distance of approximately 42km. Driving at 80km/hr, gives a time of 31 minutes. Driving at 100km gives a time of 25 minutes and driving at 120km/hr gives a time of 21 minutes. I would like to ask the question to all those who want the speed limit raised to 120km/hr, is ten minutes worth your life? Is it worth the life of your passengers? I think not. I have no problem raising the speed limit to 90km/hr, since its very reasonable, but after that it becomes very hard to control a vehicle with a blowout or even if you’re given a ‘bad drive’.
Additionally, having a controlled speed limit would aid in the detection and apprehension of car thieves when Viper I (Police helicopter) is in the air, since it would be very easy to identify the speeding car down the highway.
Again, I would like to commend the Government, and hope that there are some speed guns working in the nights too, since recent surveys have indicated that a high percentage of fatal accident occur at nights.
Elaine Peters
Marabella