Gleaner articles provide the subtext for today’s piece. One was headlined ‘Safeguarding our Children.’ It was written by Cecelia Campbell-Livingston and published on May 18.
Mrs Campbell-Livingston writes about family, religion and other matters. She previously wrote about an accident in which 11 students from Edwin Allen High School in Clarendon who were ‘lapping up’ were injured.
Lapping up, an unfamiliar term, means that some passengers were seated in the laps of others. It also implies that the vehicle was carrying more passengers than the regulations permitted. The article did not say whether the ‘lappers’ or ‘lappees’ were wearing seatbelts as required by law.
The vehicle ran off a bridge and into a gully. I contacted the writer and suggested a follow-up piece. My reasons: May is Child Month and two students suffered serious injuries. Also, sources told me that the students’ medical expenses could run into millions of dollars. Thirdly, if the vehicle was insured as required by law, complications would undoubtedly arise when compensation was sought by the children’s legal representatives. Mrs Campbell-Livingston agreed and sent me a draft of her article a few days later.
Three articles in this newspaper last Tuesday also form part of the setting for my comments. ‘Motorists unfazed by 10,000 traffic tickets per week: Road safety experts, hope new law, better collaboration will help reduce offences’ ran on Page A2. Juxtaposed against it on Page A3 was ‘It was just blood all over: Student killed, 26 injured in Portland crash’. The driver of the students’ vehicle, according to the police, was “earlier prosecuted for carrying 27 students in a 15-seater minibus”.
The article confirmed the former headline. After I read those articles, twice, I became very sad. The causes: my indirect involvement with Mrs Campbell-Livingston’s article and the two accidents.
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