The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) is urging Saint Lucia to treat road safety as a core economic issue, warning that traffic accidents are placing a growing burden on national productivity, business efficiency, and public services.
NCPC Director Lisa Florent-Montoute, in a joint speaking engagement with law enforcement officers, said road safety must no longer be viewed narrowly as a matter for law enforcement or transport authorities, but as a wider development concern with direct economic consequences.
“Road safety is often viewed solely as a transportation or law enforcement issue,” she said. “However, it is much broader than that. It is a national productivity issue.”
She explained that the ripple effects of road accidents extend far beyond the crash site, disrupting the flow of commerce and reducing efficiency across multiple sectors of the economy.
“The impact on productivity cannot be overstated,” Florent-Montoute stated. “When roads become congested due to accidents, employees arrive late to work, goods and services are delayed, businesses incur additional costs, and valuable productive hours are lost.”
She also pointed to the strain placed on emergency and public safety services, noting that accident response diverts resources away from other critical national needs.
“Emergency services, including the police and fire service, are diverted from other critical responsibilities to respond to accidents that may, that in many cases could have been avoided,” she said.
The NCPC is therefore advocating for sweeping reforms to traffic management systems, arguing that improved coordination and modernization could significantly reduce congestion and productivity losses linked to accident processing and response times.
“Such reforms can reduce congestion, improve efficiency and minimize the productivity losses associated with prolonged accident processing,” Florent-Montoute said, adding that the Council is prepared to play an active role in shaping the reform agenda.
“The NCPC stands ready to support discussions and to take action on modernizing these processes through stakeholder engagement and policy dialogue,” she noted.
She further outlined the proposed approach, which would bring together key stakeholders to assess the full scope of traffic and safety challenges and develop coordinated policy solutions.
“The purpose of this collaborative body would be to examine traffic management challenges, review legislation, identify bottlenecks, assess accident trends, recommend policy reforms, and develop innovative solutions aimed at reducing congestion, improving road safety, and increasing national productivity,” she said.
The NCPC’s position underscores a growing recognition that road safety is not only a public health and enforcement concern, but also a critical factor in economic performance, efficiency, and national development outcomes.