.

Dexter Smith goes to jail
There it was on Sunday evening, piled up at the Rockley intersection on the main road in to Bridgetown, one of those minivan shuttles that work our route, completely the worse for wear after a decent sort of smash with a car. Both vehicles were extensively crumpled, still in the middle of the road, there was glass everywhere and the emergency services were dealing with the aftermath. These are the route taxis we have described as plying the main roads in a hair-raising sort of way, crammed full of passengers and seemingly powered by a bass beat alone such is the volume and intensity of the Rasta music that so completely overwhelms their insides. Riding in them is, if nothing else, distinctly edgy but we use these vans all the time to get around.
On Monday The Nation carried the story of the crash; fourteen minivan passengers hurt, minor cuts and abrasions for the driver and the occupants of the car in hospital for observation. We speculated on the cause, but from the wreckage it was impossible to tell what had happened, although clear that the vehicles wouldn’t be seeing any more time on the road.
By Wednesday it was all too apparent; Dexter Smith, the van driver was jailed for one year, convicted on charges of driving while disqualified, without insurance, without due care and attention, dangerously, without reasonable consideration, and that he passed beyond the stop line on all Sundays, whatever the latter might mean. Evidently, the crash was Smith’s fault entirely. The newspaper report continued: He (Smith, age 21) has thirty traffic convictions and has had his license suspended on four previous occasions, prompting the magistrate to describe him as representing the most dangerous fringe in the culture of the service vehicle industry. “You sometimes drive intoxicated, you overload the vehicle, you drive in and out as if you own the road,” he said, admonishing Smith, “and here you are at the scene of an accident with no license and no insurance.”
Well, we guess we won’t be getting a ride in to town with young Dexter for the remaining duration of our time here. It could be said he had the book thrown at him.
The court report described Smith as a Route Taxi Driver who recklessly injured his RZ passengers, RZ being the number plate prefix for this form of transport. Vehicles in Barbados are registered according their purpose, Z being the taxi moniker and RZ meaning Route Taxi. No-one appears quite sure why Z stands for taxi, but rental cars all start with H, short for hire. This is, of course, a dead giveaway, but comes as a mixed bag. Other vehicles will watch out and show extra courtesy, and strangers will offer help if an H-car driver looks lost or disorientated. But on the other hand, it is an open invitation for stall holders to try and sell unwanted trinkets or to clean windscreens and anything else you may not want.
This raises an interesting question that, in general, there does not seem to be a local sub-economy. The fruit and vegetable stalls, or fish markets operate a one price system; expensive for all. In some countries there is clearly a dual economy, one for tourists and another for locals. It can be as pronounced as having whole, separate fare structures for travel or, in places like Thailand, where the fruits and vegetable markets with exceptionally low prices are just not generally the domain of tourists. Just as hotel and chain restaurants with western-ish prices are not the natural domain of locals. Food in Thailand can be brought from street vendors at an exceptionally low cost but, again, the stomachs of most tourists are unseasoned recipients of their wares. The point to this is that we have wondered how, in a low wage economy such as Barbados, locals can afford to live. We have asked and the answer just seems to be that they have to, although some of the locals tell us they don’t have some costs westerners experience such as winter heating expenses. Notwithstanding, the last government, a Labour one, was recently kicked out and replaced by another promising to cut the cost of living for all. Since then the price of electricity has risen by 50 percent and water by 60. Nothing has come down at all; and it may be the reason our new friend Blanketman, instead of trying to sell us overpriced fruit, now simply asks for money. It seems more direct.
Coming home yesterday, in a fully-operational RZ minivan, one of our local roads was blocked off by police, and two ambulances were heading towards Bridgetown with sirens going and lights flashing. A further fifty meters along there were two cars strewn about the road. Marty could have sworn that one of them was our little, recently-hired Chevrolet Spark - which just goes to show that an H number plate cannot afford complete security against the dangers of the world.