'The Road Deths'
66 have died on our roads so far this year 32 have died because of speeding In a bid to prevent further carnage on our roads Police will use “unmarked vehicles” during the festive season to monitor driver behaviour
Fiji Police Force will be using unmarked vehicles for traffic surveillance during this festive season, says a top officer.
Director Traffic Senior Superintendent of Police Mahesh Mishra said the decision to use unmarked vehicles has one goal – to help prevent further deaths on our roads.
Latest Police traffic statistics have indicated that 66 people have so far died on our roads this year.
This was the result of 50 fatal road accidents in which multiple lives have been lost. Compared to 2017, 70 people
This is a step we have taken to ensure that lives are not lost. Mehesh Mishra DIRECTOR TRAFFIC, Fiji Police Force
lost their lives on our roads. “We will use unmarked vehicles to ensure that drivers know, at any given time, any Police officer could be around them, monitoring their behaviour on our roads,” Mr Mishra said. “The vehicles will not have the normal Government registration plates and neither will it have a Fiji Police Force sign on it. This is a step we have taken to ensure that lives are not lost.”
Sixty-six people had lost their lives this time last year, which rose to 70 after four more road deaths were recorded in the second half of December 2017.
Without any surprise, Mr Mishra revealed that speeding continued to be the main reason behind the fatal road accidents.
So far, speeding led to 32 deaths, 15 were related to drunk driving, six people died after pedestrians were found to be at fault while four deaths were a direct result of accidents resulting from driver fatigue. Mr Mishra said a detailed analysis of accidents over the past 10 years revealed that most people died during accidents that took place on a Saturday.
For the last two years, 66 people who died on our roads were between the ages of 21 to 40. Most people who have died on our roads have been in this age category, which means that a significant number from our productive workforce have perished in road accidents.