The Dream Reborn

Just 4 days into the new year and 3 days after the car accident of superstar sprinter Richard Thompson, Trinidad and Tobago's most successful boxer, Giselle Salandy has been killed in a car accident. This madness needs to stop. The roads of Trinidad and Tobago have become a health hazard and something needs to be done to rectify this problem now.

Four national sport heroes have been involved in car accidents in the first four days of this year with Giselle being the lone fatality. As I said in my previous blog, I hope this causes them to use their star power to spread knowledge on safe driving. Last year we lost over 200 lives on the roads of Trinidad and Tobago. In the first four days of 2009 we are already at 2 deaths.

The Transportation Minister should be fired immediately. He has done nothing to improve safety on the roads. All we keep hearing is talk about ferry service which is mainly glamour. Any time the word, "road" is mentioned, nothing good ever seems to follow it. If it isn't brand new stretches of highway caving in, it's a new road fatality. We need stricter enforcement of the law and better managed traffic light plans. I never had faith in either of them when I lived in Trinidad. On my way home from school, I had to sprint across highways to get to my house because the traffic lights never seemed to be working. This was over 6 years ago and nothing has changed. Trinidadians stand up and speak out.

The high amount of road fatalities don't also fall solely upon the government. There is a culture of drag racing in Trinidad that needs to be stopped. All those young men spending thousands to increase the performance of their cars to limits way above the speed limit should also take note. Keep the drag racing legal and on an enclosed track. The public roads are not your playground.

About 8 years ago when I still lived in Trinidad, I had the best seat in the house to one of the most horrific car accidents I've ever seen. I was on my way to a wedding and there was a car on the opposite side of the highway, speeding to catch the light before it changed. While he was focusing on the lights, another car was speeding across the intersection and hit his car flush on the passenger side. The impact caused the car trying to catch the light, to make 2 full flips in mid air and land facing the car I was driving in, which was now standing at the red light it should have also stopped for. The other car came to a full stop in the middle of the highway after it made contact. The driver of that car died instantly, while the driver of the flipped car survived for a few minutes before he too succumbed to his injuries. I could still remember watching him struggling to get out, while his lower body was crushed inside the mangled car.

On Oprah a few years ago, she was interviewing two brothers who wrote a book about the countries they visited, and they specifically said that they didn't feel safe on the the roads of Trinidad and Tobago. These 2 men visited at least a dozen countries, and Trinidad and Tobago stood out because of the reckless driving they witnessed there. That says it all right there.

Trinbagonians stand up and do something. Make some calls directly to the people in charge and don't stop until they take action. Get the roads safe again.



Giselle Salandy, T&T's most successful female boxer, was the holder of eight international boxing titles including Women's International Boxing Association (WIBA), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) titles, which she successfully defended in her last fight. This fight, which took place on Boxing Day against Dominican Republic's Yahaira Hernandez, took her professional record to 17 wins and zero losses.

In October 2001, on the island of Curacao, came the moment of truth which altered her professional focus on the sport. Giselle Salandy became the youngest person in history to win a world boxing title at the tender age of 14 years, smashing a world record and because of the new change of the age laws in boxing, that record will never be broken.

Update: Giselle Salandy's car after the accident.