Minister of Transport and Local Government Frankie Campbell delivered grave statistics on the high traffic fatalities in The Bahamas in the last year.

During the National Road Safety Committee meeting yesterday, Campbell said the 2016 statistics on road fatalities in The Bahamas are disturbing as Latin America and the Caribbean have the world’s highest per capita fatality rate from road crashes with 26 deaths per 100,000 persons.

Campbell said he is grieved to report the following statistics.

In 2016, The Bahamas reported 43 traffic fatalities, 90 serious injuries, 2,162 minor injuries, 1,175 hit and run accidents, and 7,710 damages to public property, private property and vehicles occurred.

The 2017 accident report revealed that it may be a grim year for pedestrians and drivers.

With 22 traffic fatalities, 66 serious injuries, 1,261 minor injuries, 644 hit and run accidents, and 4,533 damages to public property, private property and vehicles, it seems this year will follow a similar trend to last year.

Campbell is ramping up on awareness to fight against lawless driving with erected billboards, issuing road safety pamphlets and placed messages on social media.

“The government of The Bahamas will continue its efforts in that area, will seek to promote good road safety habits, and will ensure the enforcement of the rules of the road,” assured Campbell.

He urges that “each citizen must make road safety a personal priority” to ensure that the number of fatalities reduce.

Campbell is aware of the “challenges associated with adjusting behavior on our roads,” but working on road safety is vital for the ministry as “the cost of this catastrophe” is “far too high” for The Bahamas.

He also cautioned parents to ensure that their children are properly secured with a seat belt or in a car seat when driving.