What do accidents teach us?

We are all lamenting the traffic accident registered in the Boulevard Turístico del Este in Punta Cana, which has killed two people and injured more than 40. To a certain extent, it is another accident in a country that ranks first in traffic accidents. But we have reacted with particular sensitivity because the victims have been tourists, that is, people who decided to visit us to rest, enjoy our beaches, listen and dance to our music, and contemplate our beautiful tropical landscapes.

As the media usually do, we want to take advantage of this unfortunate and painful circumstance to return to a reiterated discourse (now they say narrative) but not without relevance and meaning.

1) The Dominican Republic has to make tremendous and urgent efforts to stop being a country synonymous with traffic accidents. To achieve this, we must work hard and with diligence because it is not easy to overcome our drivers’ insufficient education, lack of common sense, and disregard for the rules and laws. 2) When events like the one mentioned above occur, the authorities should emphasize knowing the circumstances surrounding the tragedy to study them, analyze them, examine them and take the necessary measures so that those circumstances do not reappear and cause similar accidents. 3) Tourism is our golden cup, and we must take care of it. The transportation that moves through the tourist poles must be exceptionally qualified, both in the quality of the vehicles and in the experience and skill of the drivers. We must make use of modern technologies to, for example, monitor these vehicles and regulate their speed. 4) The authority must never relinquish its jurisdiction. For example, guilds and owners of tourist facilities are not there to set standards. The rules belong to the government authority.