by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—Child passenger issues in St. Kitts and Nevis centre on inadequate use of vehicular restraints, strict new transport safety mandates, and broader concerns about childhood vulnerability, such as exposure to traffic accidents.
Traffic enforcement officials have repeatedly raised alarms about the dangerous yet prevalent practice of allowing infants and toddlers to ride unrestrained on passengers’ laps, particularly on local public transit minibuses and in private vehicles.
Sergeant Matthew McGuire of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force once again raised the issue during the June 08, 2026, broadcast of WINN Island Tea.
“It’s something that we have been observing for quite some time, mostly with the private vehicles. It seems as though that we, as adults, we seem to ensure that we are safe and protected, but ignore our responsibility with the children. We rather see them standing between the seats, standing and looking out, standing and doing everything, and in the event of any unforeseen circumstance, they become the casualty, the one who is mostly at risk.”
The Sergeant raised concerns about Hired Buses on the Federation and the lack of safety measures on passenger buses, especially for children.
“Somehow in the law, there is an exemption in relation to passengers other than the front seat passengers travelling on commercial vehicles vis-a-vis passengers. What I will encourage, persons who are travelling on passenger buses with young children to make sure that they sit. Almost there isn’t any safe area on the bus, right? But you will, it is better if you position yourself in a way that, in the event of anything, that the child does not suffer the brunt of the impact. If you’re holding the child, the child should throw out of your arm based on the impact that the child would not have been thrown so far that you could have catastrophic circumstances resulting as an injury to the child.”
Sergeant McGuire said he cannot address the reason for the exemption in the law, only that it exists.
“So I cannot say definitely what is the reasoning behind not having passenger buses in terms of persons travelling with children, but there is an exemption in the law. The law only, with the recent amendment, focusses on the front seat passengers. And one of the things that we have to ensure, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure that your passenger is wearing the seat belt. That’s the driver’s responsibility. And you said this goes only for the front of the bus? Yes, but for private vehicles too. Remember, the law focuses on front seat passengers. If you’re travelling in a private vehicle, once you’re travelling in the front, you must wear a seat belt along with the driver. If you are in the back, you don’t have to wear a seat belt, according to the law, except in cases where there are children under 14 years.”
As it relates to seating, the law makes provision for child safety in private vehicles.
“The roads are unpredictable. I don’t think anybody will set out and say, I’m going to cause an accident today. Sometimes accidents are caused mainly by the environment, by human errors, and by mechanical failures. I can say that about 98% of all accidents are caused by human errors, meaning that somebody would have done something that is contrary to the law, something that they should have done, something that they did that should not have done, or something they did not do that they should have done. And as a result, the consequence of that is an accident. And so these are unpredictable. And so you have to make sure that when you’re travelling with children, that you just have to imagine or just think the that’s something likely to happen. And so you make sure that you make sure that there is safety.”
The call for increased child safety while in vehicles came after the tragic death of an infant in an accident in 2025.
Regarding accidents in the Federation, the Sergeant suggested that about 98% of vehicular accidents are due to human error.
“Now, understanding the law and child seat and seat belt is another important area of protecting children. Why this is so is to enhance road safety for children. The law mandates the use of child seats and seat belts based on the child’s height or age, below the key requirements every driver must follow. So let me explain what this is saying. Now, sometimes people ask, at what age a child should not be in a car seat. The law says at age five, the child shouldn’t be in the car seat, but depending on the height and the weight of the child. So the child might be younger than five, but the child might be tall, might be heavy. And so if the child is too big for a car seat, what the law says, the child doesn’t have to be in a car seat, you just get a booster seat. And then you can have the child stopped.”
Between 2019 and 2023, St. Kitts and Nevis experienced a staggering 6,526 traffic accidents, averaging approximately 1,305 crashes every year and 19 road-related deaths.
The Federation saw a significant spike in 2024, recording over 1,700 traffic accidents and 13 fatalities, prompting increased government mitigation efforts to curb accident rates and mortality.
The creation of a long-term strategy to map infrastructure improvements, with a firm target of zero road fatalities by 2030, led to a notable decline in fatalities and total incidents by the end of 2025, with only five road-related fatalities.
