“We are not an enforcement society”
Those words spoken by the late Prime Minister David Thompson one night on the CBC were nothing but the truth. Folks were aghast that he said the words – but at the same time seemed unconcerned about the truth of his statement. How like us that is: we’re concerned about the image, not with the reality of our society’s faults.
We are NOT an enforcement society. It shows in the trash on the streets, in the number of people and businesses that fail to pay taxes for years (sometimes decades) without penalties and when people steal millions from the public purse and never a charge is laid.
And it shows in the number of fatal accidents on our roads. Tourists from the UK have a 240% greater chance of dying in a road accident in Barbados than back at home. We lose more people to road deaths than to murder, but we don’t have effective laws against drinking and driving. Our Royal Barbados Police Force is 100 officers under strength because we pay Constables less than we pay our garbage workers.
And so another young man died on Thursday morning.
Tito Michael Anderson Bradshaw of Wilkinson Road, Richmond Gap, St. Michael, died at about 8:40am at 1st Avenue Weekes Land near Goodland, St. Michael. He lost control of his motorcycle and his head hit a pole.
A crowd gathered. His mum was brought to the scene and the poor woman lost it right there and it’s no wonder. But in a short while the body was removed and the blood and brains on the road were hosed down. After the sun dried everything up, it was like nothing had ever happened. No tourists would be alarmed. No locals would be concerned when passing by the site.
“The guy was riding a scrambler at top speed. Remember only a couple of weeks ago we were talking about these scramblers and the danger that they pose.”
BFP reader ‘What will they think of next?’
Whether it’s crime or road accidents, our police are excellent at cleaning up – just not so good at prevention. And who can blame them when the politicians stage cricket parties and celebratory evenings but won’t pass the laws that the police need to protect us all.
The photos are grim, gruesome even – but we’re going to show them here in full because they might save another young man’s life. Our thanks to BFP reader ‘What will they think of next’.
Here are the graphic photos… Continue reading