Cedric Stephens | Insurers have a duty to explain road traffic rules

I read with surprise that one big commercial bank persuaded 300 of its employees to participate in the Great Mangrove Clean-up Project to remove waste, plastic waste, and other garbage from Kingston Harbour’ s mangroves. The clean-up was done last month as a collaborative effort of GraceKennedy Foundation and other entities, including Scotiabank Foundation.

Pulitzer Centre grantee Gladstone Taylor, in his article, The Critical Role of Mangroves in Adapting to Climate Change, writes: “Jamaica’s critical mangrove forests are facing a range of threats, caused or exacerbated by climate change. Mangroves are essential for tropical countries like Jamaica.”

They have “dense, interwoven root systems that grow along warmer coastal regions in slow-moving water. They protect coastlines from tidal waves and flooding and are natural habitats for a variety of marine life. Besides acting as a natural buffer and habitat protection for multiple ecosystems, mangroves are becoming a key part of the global climate-change conversation because of their ability to sequester carbon,” he wrote.

Researchers say plastic waste trapped by mangrove forests can be present in high quantities both on the forest floor and in the sediment. Further, “mangrove trees in which the root zones are entirely covered by plastic will ultimately die. They are stressed by plastic pollution levels, especially near sources of mismanaged plastic. Mangrove restoration projects could, therefore, benefit from plastic management alongside conventional restoration efforts such as planting or habitat rehabilitation.”

‘Big up’ the GraceKennedy and Scotiabank Foundations and the other corporates involved in the clean-up. They understand the threats that small island developing states like ours face. Non-life insurers were not listed among participants in the clean-up despite the protections that flourishing mangrove forests provide.

The apparent myopia of the insurance industry was also evident years ago when influential CEOs pointedly refused to get involved in funding a national building code project. More recently, with one notable exception, motor insurers (including their brethren in the life segment) ignored the opportunities that arose from the new Road Traffic Act and regulations.

Gleaner columnist Peter Espeut, writing in January 2023, quoted Jamaica’s “published literacy figure for 1999 as 79.9 per cent”. Data from the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, he argued, found that in the 2019 Primary Exit Profile exam, better known as PEP, “33 per cent of students cannot read, or can barely do so; 56 per cent cannot, or can barely, write; and 58 per cent cannot, or can barely, find information on a topic”.

It seems reasonable, therefore, to infer from these facts that most motorists would be ignorant about the 186-page 2018 Road Traffic Act or the 366-page regulations (or rules) with 299 provisions. Can Jamaica’s high rate of motor vehicle accidents be ascribed, partially or otherwise, to ignorance of the rules and the failure on the part of the executive to explain to citizens the context within which the law and rules were drafted and the societal benefits?

Today’s article will focus on Sections 68 to 75, 76 to 105, and 106 to 115 of the Road Traffic Regulations 2022. They speak broadly to night driving.

Driving under nighttime conditions, from my experience, can be very dangerous. Some of the factors that account for this include poor visibility, nighttime blindness, age-related conditions, and ignorance on the part of some motorists.

Ophthalmologist Dr Alan Mendelsohn, writing for US News in 2018, stated that cataracts are the most common cause of impaired night vision. It is a clouding of the lens over the eyes.

“Just as everyone eventually develops grey hair, we all develop cataracts. Most persons begin to develop cataracts in their 40s or early 50s.” A compelling symptom of the presence of cataracts is the “debilitating sensitivity to the glare from oncoming headlights”, he wrote.

According to Dr Mendelsohn, the lenses or pupils of the eyes are typically three or four millimetres in diameter during daylight hours but are dilated to between eight to 11 millimetres at nights.

“Aside from cataracts, there are a few other, rarer, causes of vision problems that impair nighttime driving. Macular degeneration, diabetes (especially after treatment for diabetic retinopathy), and retinitis pigmentosa are all diseases that have been implicated in decreased nighttime and peripheral vision – both of which can severely hamper safe driving,” he stated.

The National Road Safety Council in the United States recommends the following actions to combat driving risks during periods of darkness:

• Aim your headlights correctly, and make sure they are clean;

• Dim the lights in the vehicle and on your dashboard;

• Look away from oncoming lights;

• If you wear glasses, make sure they are anti-reflective;

• Clean the windshield to eliminate streaks; and

• Slow down to compensate for limited visibility and reduced stopping time.

The drafters of the regulations recognise the importance of reducing some of the nighttime driving risks. Rules about nighttime driving represent 15 per cent of all the rules. Motorists with their LED light banks coupled with their refusal to dim lights for approaching vehicles create hazards for themselves and other road users. In April 2022, the police embarked on a programme to seize vehicles with lights – the regulations call them lamps – that were not in compliance with the regulations. These efforts should be intensified.

Corporate social responsibility involves more than the removal of plastic waste and garbage for mangrove forests. It can extend to helping citizens understand the benefits of complying with societal rules about driving vehicles on public roads – much in the same way that they were sold on sanitising hands and the wearing of masks when COVID-19 was raging.

Cedric E. Stephens provides independent information and advice about the management of risks and insurance. For free information or counsel, write to: aegis@flowja.com or business@gleanerjm.com