TTPS urges drivers to leave earlier, drive safely as schools reopen tomorrow

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) is urg­ing mo­torists to ad­just their sched­ules and ex­er­cise greater cau­tion on the roads as schools re­open on Mon­day, April 13, 2026.

The po­lice are ad­vis­ing mo­torists to leave home ear­li­er, re­main vig­i­lant for chil­dren cross­ing road­ways, and stay alert for chil­dren en­ter­ing and ex­it­ing ve­hi­cles.

Se­nior Su­per­in­ten­dent of the Traf­fic and High­way Pa­trol Branch, Lin­coln Daly, warned dri­vers against us­ing the shoul­der in an at­tempt to beat traf­fic, say­ing of­fi­cers will be de­ployed in full force across the high­way net­work.

“School re-open­ing re­quires dri­vers to re-ad­just jour­neys to help en­sure they are still on time. Good jour­ney man­age­ment en­tails that per­sons may have to leave home sig­nif­i­cant­ly ear­li­er and cater for in­creased traf­fic con­ges­tion dur­ing the peak hours es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing the pe­ri­od of 6 am to 9 am and 2 pm to 6 pm.

“Pa­tience, cour­tesy and com­mon sense are key at­trib­ut­es which mo­torists should em­ploy to help ease frus­tra­tions due to traf­fic con­ges­tion. Dri­vers should be fo­cused on the roads and not dis­tract­ed by mo­bile phones and en­sure that seat belts are be­ing worn.

“The High­way Pa­trol Mo­tor­cy­cle Unit will be strate­gi­cal­ly de­ployed across the na­tion’s high­ways as part of our na­tion­al road polic­ing op­er­a­tions to­geth­er with our pa­trol teams and spe­cial op­er­a­tions task force.

“We ask the pub­lic to join our ef­forts in mak­ing the roads safer, whether by cross­ing a road in a safe man­ner, obey­ing speed lim­its or en­sur­ing dri­vers are alert, at­ten­tive and sober, as we all have a cru­cial role to play,” Daly said.

The TTPS al­so re­port­ed that da­ta from the Traf­fic and High­way Pa­trol Road­way Sur­veil­lance Unit shows that for 2026 there have been 19 road traf­fic deaths com­pared with 28 for the same pe­ri­od last year, rep­re­sent­ing a 32 per cent re­duc­tion.