Time to review scooter safety
Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the 15-year-old who died after in a tragic scooter accident over the weekend.
In the wake of this tragedy, we hope that the community will take significant steps to improve scooter and motorcycle safety here.
Police said the Sunday wreck occurred shortly after midnight, when a dirt bike and a scooter collided head-on with the 15-year-old’s scooter in front of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on Beef Island. Officers arrived at the scene to find “a large gathering of motorbikes,” which “quickly dispersed,” according to a police press release.
The stretch of road in front of the airport is regularly used by cars and scooters for racing — often with dozens of bystanders lining the road. Starting now, the police and the community should work together to stop this practice.
To that end, at least two obvious steps merit serious consideration: installing speed-bumps and sending police officers to bring charges against those who participate in the races.
But, while such measures could bring a quick halt to the racing at Beef Island, they won’t solve the growing problem of reckless scooter drivers on roads around Tortola.
Thus, proactive steps are necessary to protect law-abiding motorists and pedestrians, as well as the reckless riders themselves.
For example, the territory should consider tightening licensing regulations by raising the legal age to operate a scooter from 16 to 18 and by ramping up the testing requirements for obtaining a motorcycle licence.
Of course, such measures should be accompanied by stricter enforcement of existing laws, with police ticketing unlicensed or underage scooter operators and confiscating their bikes. And the same traffic officers who so strictly enforce seatbelt laws should crack down on riders who don’t wear helmets, who ride bikes that exceed the 125-cubic centimetre legal limit, who speed, or who break other traffic laws.
Meanwhile, parents, teachers and community leaders should work together to ensure that young people who choose to ride scooters know how to operate them safely — and know the risks of doing otherwise. To that end, education is a must.
If the territory doesn’t immediately take meaningful action to tackle this growing problem, the future will bring more senseless tragedies.