Health Minister Molwyn Joseph, is calling on the Antigua and Barbuda government to ban the importation of the Toyota Vitz vehicle, describing it as a “public health issue”.
Joseph has linked the vehicle to a number of serious accidents involving young people, adding “it is a public health problem costing the government a lot of money to respond.
“”We cannot when we have these young people with spinal injuries say “oh it is their problem, they must drive more carefully,” he said, although he provided no definitive figures to back his claim..
Joseph told legislators that the vehicle “has an engine that is more powerful than the body of the vehicle. So that what happens is, when these young people drive these vehicles, it’s like they are sliding on air, so they don’t feel the traction of the road for them to feel how fast the vehicle is going”.
He said to underscore the seriousness of the situation, people would have to work more closely with the emergency room personnel at Mount St. John’s Medical Centre to understand the urgency needed to deal with the matter.
Joseph said that he had first brought up the issue of banning the importation of the vehicle with Attorney general, Steadroy Benjamin after three consecutive accidents involving the Toyota Vitz.
“I called the AG and said listen, let’s just ban this thing from coming into the country, Just ban it,’ Joseph said, adding that while the government was not against people being in possession of their own vehicles, these cars must however be safe.
Benjamin said that the matter would be discussed at the level of Cabinet.
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i dont get it cant anyone die in any type vehicle? are they going to ban honda fit to and any small vehicles? what about what persons can afford? is not everyone can afford jeeps. why dont you guys get the police to patrol the roads often i still see persons on their phones while driving and persons driving with one or no head lights at nights. the speeding booths on the side of the roads are these just for show? there are so many vitz owners rent a car business with these are they going to be banned to drive them?
Before banding the importation of this vehicle, why not first force the road speed limits in Antigua and Barbuda? This vehicle is all the young people can afford to purchase. The young drivers need to be more responsible once they get behind the wheel of any vehicle and obey the road speed limits. Yes, vehicle accident will happens and it can also be avoid to. They also need to know the road and it infrastructure condition.
Let me get this straight, Mount St John is giving the minister advice on vehicles?
This is a strange development.
Ice cream should be banned because it makes people fat and cause diabetes and other health complications.
Ice cream is putting a lot of financial strain on the health Care system.
I say ban ice cream
I say ban ice cream too
Lol good one lol
June 11, 2019 at 10:08 pm
I have two possible solution to curve the speeding problem.
1 All vehicles be calibrated to suit the speed limit before licensing.
(i) Anyone who tampers with the calibration forfeit their driver’s license permanently.
(ii) Anyone who forfeited their driver’s license and found driving again fines to exceed $20k or 10 years plus in prison.
This must be understood to mean once you are speeding the possibility exist that a life can be taken.
Suggestion 2
Any driver may purchase a purpose built software with a camera which is mounted on the dash board.
The information is stored on the hard drive of the camera and also sent directly to a processing mainframe at a police station.
This vehicle is calibrated to the speed limit. The camera records any vehicle that passes the calibrated vehicle.
When the person pays the fine the driver who made the report is rewarded with 50% of the fine.
The complete kit is at the expense of the driver and not the government.
This system could also be used to capture persons using cell phones while driving.
As many driver as possible can be on the program. Once the payment is timely it can easily be passive income.
This is not rocket science either cameras are available and software can be written. The will to curve the problem is the problem.
Vitz will never be banned.
The more on the road the more WIOC smile.
Economic prosperity in this era is more valuable than life and limb, sad but true.
Huh?
NAAH MINISTER – LEAVE THE VITZ ALONE
Do not remove the ‘…affordability’ from the young people.
Do not set them up against your administration.
Empower them and teach them to be more responsible in their driving.
The suggestion of a ‘…Ban On Vitz’ seemed more preposterous than the arguments advanced.
It is even more preposterous for Doctors to take into consideration the ‘…Make of Vehicle’ as part of the history of injuries sustained in traffic accidents.
Do Doctors ask the injured, ‘…What vehicle you were driving or riding in?
That said, none may confuse the ‘…Make of a vehicle’ with the ‘…Manner in which it was driven.’
Conversely, none may confuse himself with the ‘…Caliber of a Firearm’ with the way the holder or possessor uses such weapon.
The ‘…Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (VRTA) [Chapter 460] sets out three manner of driving and speed as possible cause of traffic accidents.
These are;
(i) ‘…Reckless Driving;
(ii) …Dangerous Driving;
(iii) …Careless Driving; and
(iv) …Excessive Speed.
Vehicles do not drive in such manner or exceed speed limits. Drivers do.
A possible solution, ‘…Disqualify drivers, who through;
(a) …Reckless or Dangerous driving or
(b) …Exceeding Speed’ and caused accidents.
Since no vehicle causes traffic accidents, ‘.. Please Leave the Vitz Alone.’
Wow… this meant to be a joke right? I hope it is because a minister of government is putting the blame on a vehicle. Not that we need proper roads and/or better policing to minimize these accidents. Oh well #thisisAntigua
Band what!!!!! Those cars are from low income ppl who work for less…cars dont cause accidents unless we get in start the vehicle and some of us want to show arf and cause accidents….
Cant blame the cars blame who nuff and lub drive without caution
Need to ban all the reckless drivers for a good amont of years based on their delinquency…not the car….cars dont drive themselves…and there’s an auto meter in the car which shows how fast they’re driving!…even if they can’t feel the traction on the road as you say….. smh.
ALL LAWS NEED TO UPGRADED INTENSIVELY IN ANTIGUA…..ARLLL!
We need the road laws to be addressed. When each driver can be equally liable and the police can make practical judgments instead of cases having to go before a judge, ppl will do less nonsense on the road.
I have a better idea. How about we ban…..oh well never mind.
That is the biggest piece of b******* I’ve have ever read. Maolwyn mussa have in he rum. Who put u up Hadeed, Harney or Ryan??
Total ignorance and rubbish. If that car (vitz) is banned then people will just start to import another small affordable car….like the HONDA FIT. The car is not the problem its the young reckless drivers behind the steering wheel.
While you are at it wanting to ban the VITZ. Perhaps you Molwyn Joseph should ban yourself for good.
I believe that We should run campaign ADS on the MEDIA about fast driving. It is not the car . It is the Driver .
On another note….. I would like to commend Cleon Athill to speak about Janice Samuel yesterday on the Movement show. Janice is an ADVOCATE for the OBSERVER RADIO / MOVEMENT / FAITHFUL NATIONALS /SNAKEPIT. I also CANNOT believe what I read in the Newspaper that Janice Samuel was convicted on Four previous occasions for similar crimes. I also read in the newspaper that She served 18 months in Prison ( HARD LABOUR ). Am I to believe all the Righteous like CLEON ATHILL / SERPENT / DANE KNIGHT/HAROLD LOVELL and others did not know anything about the above convictions. Preaching one thing and doing the other seems quite normal with These Guys. The SNAKEPIT / FAITHFUL NATIONALS/UPP owe the Nationals and All the Listeners around the world an apology. I would NOT listen to You Guys anymore. SHAME SHAME. Would like to hear Mr. Pompey Views on this matter.
NAAH JOHHNY BOY! – NO RELEVANCE
Extremely sorry ‘…Johnny H.’
Wounds are to be healed, not aggravated.
No ‘…views’ on that which has absolutely no relevance to this news story.
You are kindly urged to leave the young lady out of this one.
If anything, ‘…Ban’ it completely from your thoughts.
Sure that some Minister, somewhere, might be happy, if you refrain from speaking to this non-related issue.
The vitz has a big engine the minister states, really, last time I looked the cheap Vitz on the market had a puny 990cc engine, had to spend a fair bit more to get the “big” 1450cc with a huge 88 horsepower. The Vitz actually has a pretty good safety rating around the world, so I doubt banning it would do anything to improve the ministers situation.
If the minister really wants to ban something, why not stick to something within his portfolio, and ban free medical treatment for drivers who get injured while driving without their seatbelts. Seatbelts have been proven to lower the risk of serious injury by about 50%, even more when in conjunction with an airbag. The airbag , properly called an SRS airbag, SRS being Supplemental Restraint System, doesnt do much good on its own. If drivers dont want obey the law and use the seatbelt, thereby doubling the risk of injury in an accident, why should society pay for their recklessness?
Good intention but bad suggestion.
Cigarettes kill but we do not ban them, guns kill but we do not ban them. And there are many more things that are not good for our health and are costing the government but we do not ban them. The traffic police needs to start doing their job for once. You pass laws for people to stop being on the cellphone and police just pass you by seeing you on the phone. As if they want to say, why would we care. You cannot prosecute these offenses anyway. Our roads have become lawless because of the missing in action of the the traffic police and the COP must take blame for that.
Ban cigarettes too
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