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