Another Drinking Driver gets off easy because Barbados Police lack Breathalyzers

Attorney General Stuart, Prime Minister Thompson, Transport Minister Boyce

Hit & Run, Drinking Driver fined only $750 for Second Offense

Thanks to successive BLP and DLP governments’ neglect of road safety and their failure to implement breathalyzer laws and equipment, Awadh Narayn Inder was fined only $750 for a hit and run accident on Christmas Eve. Oh… it’s Inder’s second offense.

The arresting police officer stated that Inder was “under the influence” but unfortunately, you know how it is in Barbados. Unless a driver is falling down drunk the police have no recourse because unlike other countries that implement anti-drinking driving measures, in Barbados it’s okay to drink and drive if you can still stand up.

Everyone knows that a drinking driver can look okay and still be dangerous, but in Barbados without breathalyzer laws and equipment the standard for sobriety is “He can stand up on his own.”

What a joke…

The judge warned Inder to “stop drinking and driving” – a hollow threat if ever we’ve heard one. Not that Inder cares: this is the second time he’s been caught. In some places in the USA, Britain or Canada he’d be in jail, his car would be sold at auction and he’d be prohibited from driving for three years or more.

In Barbados with no effective laws and our cultural acceptance of drinking and driving, Mr. Inder and folks like him are barely inconvenienced by getting drunk, running into someone and driving away and hiding. Even when caught the second time the penalty is nothing to be frightened of, so pass the bottle and to hell with the police and the courts.

To Owen Arthur, Mia Mottley, David Thompson and a series of Attorneys General: the victims and the families of the dead and injured say “Thanks for nothing.”

Today’s Drinking Driver: Awadh Narayn Inder

Here’s the story from The Nation newspaper…

AFTER Awadh Narayn Inder hit a car on Tweedside Road, St Michael, on Christmas Eve he did not stop to inspect the damage, exchange numbers with the other driver, or call the police.

Instead, the 33-year-old labourer, of Sobers Lane, St Michael, bolted from the scene and got as far as the Belle Estate, where he parked the car in a dark spot trying to elude the driver who pursued him.

Appearing before Acting Magistrate Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell in the Bridgetown Traffic Court yesterday, Inder admitted that he unlawfully drove vehicle X8322 on Tweedside Road without due care and attention.

She slapped Inder with a $750 fine payable in six weeks, or 14 days in HMP Dodds, and warned him to “stop drinking and driving”…

… continue reading this article at The Nation Fined $750 for hit-and-run

Further Reading at BFP

Barbados Health Minister Donville Inniss: Breathalyzer Law & Equipment not necessary

Trinidad & Tobago implements Breathalyzer law – Barbados government fails to protect citizens from drunken driving

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Two women at the helm of Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry – Is that better than two men? Worse? Same?

First Female Executive Director for Chamber to assume duties January 2010

Lisa Gale is new BCCI Executive Director

The Barbados Chamber of Commerce & Industry is pleased to announce that Mrs. Lisa Gale will assume the responsibilities of Executive Director as of Monday 1st January 2010. Mrs. Gale is the first female Director in the history of the Chamber.

Having a wealth of experience in Economics and International Trade, Mrs. Gale’s prior immediate post was Senior Economist in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, where she advised Government on International Trade Policy for 8 years. This involved among other duties, interacting with CARICOM and other regional organisations, as well as preparing trade reports, briefs, Cabinet Papers and statistics. She also liaised with the public as it relates to International Trade matters – all of which suit the challenges of leading Barbados’ oldest Non-Governmental Organisation.

Madame President Glenda Medford observed that since both the Chamber’s President and Executive Director are ladies – as BCCI enters a new decade and era, the helm will benefit from ‘the feminine touch.’

Lisa Gale is a Combermerian who also received training at both the Cave Hill and Mona campuses of UWI, as well as graduating with Distinction from the College of International Broadcasting (Barbados). For three years she also tutored Micro-Economics at the University of the West Indies.

The Executive Director says she looks forward to ‘hit the ground running’ and implementing her mandate to carry the Chamber forward into the next decade. Mrs. Gale holds a bachelors degree in 
Economics and a Masters in International Trade Policy and has benefitted from a plethora of training courses organized by the World Trade Organization.

That’s the BCCI Press Release Above – Now for a Reality Check

BCCI President Glenda Medford

If a CV and experience are the sole qualities necessary for running any organisation, then President Glenda Medford and Executive Director Lisa Gale should be successful at the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Both are qualified on paper.

But as we’ve seen time and time again in other organisations, paper qualifications are no substitute for the dynamic leadership necessary to make things happen. The education and technical skills are a necessary foundation, but unless “Capital L” LEADERSHIP is there no progress will be made.

The first question is: Can the BCCI make a real difference to our faltering financial and tourism sectors that are the very heart of our country’s economy?

We at Barbados Free Press aren’t sure that having “the feminine touch” or “a man’s hand” has anything to do with making the BCCI useful to Barbados and the Barbados business community.

Okay, ladies – we’ll have a day or two of celebration about an all-female leadership team at BCCI, but then let’s talk performance.

And please appreciate that we’re happy to see more of our sisters, wives, mothers and daughters actively taking leadership roles in Barbados (and that for BCCI like everyone, there is no such thing as bad publicity.)

But January 2nd is coming and then it will be time to get back to work. BCCI’s leadership team might want to consider the following questions that are on every business person’s mind when they hear “BCCI” – even if they are too polite to ask the questions directly…

What is the mission statement of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry?

Is the mission of the BCCI still valid? Does the mission need changing?

Is BCCI fulfilling its mission? How do we know that BCCI is fulfilling its mission?

What can the BCCI do to improve my business and my profit?

How do we measure BCCI’s performance and impact upon our economy and upon my business?