Yvonne Webb and Alana Boodoo-Suraj
Police believe speed and a wet road may have led to another fatal collision between a car and a ten-tonne truck which claimed the lives of three more people in Mayaro yesterday.
Driver Anthony Marcano, 60, of LP 1028, Pierreville, postal worker Saliesha Ali, 41, of Food Crop Road, Bristol Village, and Sherwin Constantine, 64, of Lot 4 Pierreville, Mayaro, were killed in the smash-up.
Ali and Constantine were passengers in Marcano’s PH taxi. Another passenger, Sheronie Rampersad, of Chrysostom Trace, Mafeking Village, who was seated in the back seat, is warded in a critical condition at the Sangre Grande Hospital.
In scenes reminiscent of Monday’s accident on the MI Ring Road, Princes Town, which claimed the lives of father and son—Namdeo and Lalchan Harriram —the car Marcano was driving also skidded off the road and crashed head-on into the truck driven by Mano Churkoo. The Jaws of Life also had to be used by the firefighters to remove Marcano and the other occupants from the mangled wreck.
According to a police report, at around 11.30 am Marcano, the driver of a red Toyota Corolla, was heading west through Bristol Village near the village cemetery.
The car reportedly veered to the left and off the road, skidded on wet grass, then began to swerve uncontrollably on the road. He missed the first of two trucks which were proceeding east, but crashed head on into a second truck which was transporting asphalt.
The truck ended up off the road on its left side, with the front of the Toyota trapped under its enormous frame. The impact killed Marcano and two of his passengers instantly. Truck driver Churkoo, the lone occupant in his vehicle, escaped unhurt but not unscathed. Still shaken by the loss of life, Churkoo said Marcano would have been driving hard.
“While proceeding in an easterly direction I observed the red car coming from the opposite direction. He swerved and touched his left side of the road and the car lose control.
“It almost hit the truck in front of me. He missed that truck and I see him coming towards me. I slammed my brakes and started to skid myself and I pulled the truck as well but he collided with the front and I end up off the side of the road,” he said.
Asked about the speed at which Marcano was proceeding, Churkoo explained: “From the behaviour of the vehicle when it touched the road, it looked as though he was doing some numbers. When the tyres touched the wet grass it (the car) started to dance up and skid across the road.”
Fresh Arrive Alive appeal
In responding once again to the loss of lives through road accidents, president of Arrive, Alive Sharon Inglefield, yesterday appealed to the nation’s leaders to focus on preventative measures, such as speed guns, speed cameras and the point system through a revamped Motor Vehicle Authority to save lives.
She said: “Because people are just not listening. We need enforcement by technology. This system will save the carnage on the nation’s roads, just like it does in developed countries. We, therefore, need the political will to save lives urgently.”
While advocating for preventative measures, Inglefield said that did not remove the accountability from drivers, who needed to take their own safety and that of their passengers into their own hands by not speeding and by adjusting their speed to the road conditions.
She encouraged drivers, as well as both front and back seat passengers, to wear their seatbelts and for parents to ensure their children were buckled up in car seats.
Inglefield also expressed condolences to the family and friends of the victims.