Be aware while driving

Yesterday I received an email describing an incident where a vehicle with two female passengers appears to have been targeted and followed by a car carrying three male passengers. This occurred in the environs of the Hasely Crawford Stadium on the night of Tuesday 26th January.

We have been able to confirm that this incident did indeed happen. The text of that email is included below for your reference.

While this incident occured in Port of Spain, drivers everywhere are urged to be observant on the roadways, and especially vigilant when entering and leaving your vehicle.

• Carefully observe the area around your vehicle before entering to ensure you are not in danger of someone trying to force entry when you try to get in.
• Carefully observe your surroundings to identify whether anyone may be "marking" you.
• Keep your cell phone ready in case of emergency (Blackberry owners, this may mean unlocking your phone before you drive off or programming an emergency number beforehand).
• Keep alert - avoid activities that may prevent you from hearing the sound or observing the behaviour of other vehicles such as:
• use of cellphones for lengthy casual conversations
• listening to excessively loud music
• driving while drowsy
• driving while "buzzed"
• Have a plan - there is no time to come up with a plan in an emergency. Without a plan, you will be caught reacting, instead of having some measure of control over the situation. This can lead to panic, which is not helpful.
• Know where the nearest police station is
• Do not venture onto unknown roads that may be dead ends
• Make that emergency call!

If there is one piece of advice above that cannot be over-emphasized it is:

   Have a plan!

Situations and assumptions can change in a split-second and you need to be able to react quickly to regain the advantage. This is applicable too in the case of flood and fire evacuation, etc. It's always good to have a plan.

The email message follows below:

Just wanted to give you all a heads up on an incident that happened last night, Tuesday 26th January 2010 at 2020 hrs. My mother and I were waking towards my car which was parked in movietowne POS when we noticed a white nissan parked across from us with three men. They were just sitting in the car as though they were waiting on someone. We knew that they hadn't just arrived to their car because they weren't many people walking around the car park at that time and as we were the first to walk out of our movie, we were aware of who would have been in front of us for a couple minutes. The three men kept looking at us and only started their vehicle when we got into my car. We decided to wait a couple minutes as the situation looked suspicious. I decided to drive off as we were parked between a van and a jeep and that didn't feel safe either. I noticed a car stuck in on the window on my side but I wasn't putting the window down for anything. We were approaching the security booth at the exit of movie towne when I noticed the same vehicle parked in front the Mariott with the left indicator flashing. Too obvious...but an opportunity to get proper view of liscense plate PBC 6976. We were about to turn onto the highway from the traffic lights when PBC 6976 also pulled off and started speeding towards us moving in between other cars. I turned off at the Cocorite exit to head back into the POS area planning to head into the nearest police station. PBC 6976 also turned off from the Cocorite exit into POS. Thankfully, I was able to lose them.

Please be on the lookout for PBC 6976 as well as any other suspicuous vehicles. When approaching your vehicle, take a walk around it to make sure that there isn't any unusual activity by your car. Lock your doors as soon as you get into your vehicles. Don't let a second pass by for any predator to jump into your vehicle. Constantly make use of all your mirrors when in your car. Keep a sharp eye out. Keep a clear head if you find yourself in a similar situation: clear head keeps a calm spirit.
Keep safe folks and pray before every journey.

Be safe out there everyone...